Fossilized remains of mammoth snake discovered
— -- Indiana Jones take heart: A snake on the loose 58 million years ago would help everyone understand your phobia.
Scientists are reporting the discovery of the fossilized remains of the largest snake ever recorded — a 42-foot behemoth weighing more than a ton, according to an analysis in today's issue of the journal Nature. By studying fossilized sections of the snake's remains, scientists were able to estimate the size of the crocodile-consuming boa.
The study says Titanoboa was the largest non-marine vertebrate from the epoch following the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and "greatly exceeds the largest verifiable body lengths" of the largest known Python (approximately 29.53 feet) or Eunectes, a species of which the Anaconda is a part, (22.97 feet). The newly recognized species, Titanoboa is a relative of the modern day Anaconda, a non venomous snake inhabiting fresh water rivers in Central and South America and preying on carnivores it crushes with powerful muscles — or pulls under water and drowns. A meal is satisfied with one long gulp.
The vertebra of Titanoboa were found in a large coal mine in northeastern Colombia, an area the researchers report is the oldest known rainforest in the Americas.
Carlos Jaramillo of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama has been studying in the coal mine for six years.
"It's a fantastic viewing opportunity and perfect place to find fossils," he said Monday from Panama.
A botanist, Jaramillo said when he came across the fossils, he contacted Jonathan Bloch, a curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the University of Florida. Together, they excavated the remains and shipped them to the University of Florida.
"I thought he had to be 100 feet long when I saw the vertebra," said Bloch. "My students pulled out the largest vertebra of an Anaconda they could find. One backbone of the Titanoboa dwarfed it."
Bloch said he immediately contacted Jason Head of the University of Toronto, a biologist and specialist in "the evolution of big snakes," and showed him the vertebra during a video chat.
