titanoboa

While anacondas and pythons, the largest known snakes alive today, can reach over 30 feet long and swallow antelope whole, they are dwarfed in size by the newly discovered Titanoboa cerrejonensis, a serpent that lived during the Paleocene epoch whose bones were unearthed recenty in a Colombia coal mine. By analyzing the snake's vertebrae, paleontologists were able to determine that Titanoboa measured over 42 feet long and weighed more than 1.3 tons—nearly 30 times the mass of an anaconda. Related ScienceBlogs Posts: Titanoboa - thirteen metres, one tonne, largest snake ever.. Titanoboa!…

This is sure to be one of the most amazing scientific images of the year. You're looking at vertebrae from two species of snake. The smaller model on the left belongs to the anaconda, a giant serpent that can grow to 7 metres in length and weigh as much as 45kg. It's arguably the largest snake alive, so just think about how big the owner of the fossilised vertebra on the right would have been! There's a good reason why this new discovery - the largest snake that ever slithered - has been named Titanoboa. Titanoboa cerrejonesis is new to science and was discovered by a team of North…