The largest snakes living today are found in the tropics of South America and Southeast Asia, where warmer temperatures allow them to grow to impressive sizes. Since snakes, like other reptiles, unlike mammals, are cold-blooded and need warmth from the environment, which affects their metabolism, the researchers suggest that at the time the temperature of the region should have been around 30-34 degrees Celsius, and possibly, the snake lived near hot springs. Although the Titanoboa was originally thought to be the ecosystem’s top predator (a predator at the top of the food chain) of the Paleocene, evidence indicates that the Titanoboa was predominantly fish-eating, that is, it was an ichthyophage, which is unusual for boas. Compared to the shape and size of the two best-preserved vertebrae than living snakes, the researchers calculated that the snake was 12.8 meters (42 feet) long and weighed 1.1 tons (about 2,425 pounds), or more precisely, 1135 kilograms. If you compare the size, then you need to consider the sex of the animal, because, like many reptiles, females reach more impressive sizes than males. But the giant snake found in northeastern Colombia was twice the size of the average modern pythons and anacondas, which usually do not exceed 5-6.5 meters in length and are considered the largest and longest modern snakes. Also in the documentary Titanoboa: The monster snake, it was suggested that Titanoboa reached a length of about 14.5-15 meters and weighed about 1.3 tons. Then the length of the snake was estimated at 13-14 meters, and the weight at 1-1.5 tons. Initially, the length of the snake was estimated at 16-20 meters, and the weight at 1.5-2 tons. This discovery could shed light on the tropical climate in the Paleocene. Researchers have discovered fossils of the largest snake in history, which literally ousted the previous record holder in size, the gigantofis. By the structure of the skeleton, scientists found that this snake was very close to the genus Boa. The name of the genus is derived from Titan (Greek giant) and Boinae – a boa constrictor. In 2009, the same international group of scientists led by Jason Head from the University of Cambridge and Jonathan Bloch from the University of Florida described the species Titanoboa cerrejonensis. Prior to this discovery, several fossilized vertebrae dating from the Paleocene era had been found in the ancient tropical environments of South America. The team of scientists was led by Jonathan Bloch and Carlson Jaramillo. cerrejonensis.įossils from the remains of 28 individuals have been found in the Cerrejón Formation, in the coal mines of La Guajira, in northern Colombia, by an international team of scientists. There is a lot of controversy oversize, lifestyle, and diet. Crushing the prey causing circulatory collapse and then swallowing them whole.Titanoboa (Latin Titanoboa, which means “giant boa constrictor”, “titanic boa constrictor” or “boa constrictor”) is a genus of giant fossil snakes from the pseudopod family, very close to the genus of boas (Latin Boa), which is the largest known a snake in history, which at one time was one of the largest inhabitants of our planet, living 61.7-57.7 million years ago on the territory of modern Colombia in the Paleocene, that is, almost four million years after the disappearance of the last dinosaurs. Like living boa constrictors, Titanoboa would have been an ambush predator, attacking its prey by surprise and the coiling around them. The prey of Titanoboa likely consisted of large lungfish, small birds and mammals, crocodiles, turtles and other snakes. Titanoboa lived in a neotropical forest where it coexisted with other larger reptiles like the giant fresh water turtle Carbonemys and the dryosaurid crocodile, Anthracosuchus. Based on the size variation seen in modern snakes like anacondas and reticulated pythons and assuming Titanoboa was the same then a snake reaching a length of 20 meters or more is not out of the question though at the point purely speculative. Titanoboa was originally discovered in 2009 in the Cerrejón Formation by coal miners, by comparing the vertebrae of Titanoboa to that of living constrictor snakes like boas and pythons researchers estimated that Titanoboa could have reached sizes of between 12.8 and 14.3 meters and would have weighed around 1,135 kg. Titanoboa cerrejonensis was an extinct species of giant boa constrictor belonging to the family Boidae that lived in what is now Columbia during the middle to late Paleocene epoch around 60 to 58 million years ago.
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