Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about interesting discoveries, scientific advances, and more.
CNN
—
Forty-seven million years ago, a giant prehistoric snake longer than a school bus crawled around what is now India, according to a new study.
This extinct snake may have been one of the largest snakes to ever live, dwarfing modern anacondas and pythons, which can grow to around 6 meters (20 feet). The scientific name of this gigantic creature is Vasuki indicus, after the mythical serpent that wraps around the neck of the Hindu god Shiva and the country where it was discovered.
The study, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, said the snake was likely a slow-moving ambush predator that subdued its prey by constricting or strangling it.
The report’s two authors, based at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in Uttarakhand, used 27 fossilized vertebrae, some still attached to each other, discovered in 2005 in a coal mine in the western Indian state of Gujarat. ) was analyzed.
The researchers initially thought the bones belonged to an ancient crocodile-like creature. It wasn’t until researchers removed sediment from the fossil during the early stages of the study in 2023 that they realized they were “looking at the remains of a very large snake,” the authors said.
According to the study, the vertebrae appear to be from a fully grown animal.
“There are many possible reasons for their large size, ranging from a favorable environment with abundant food resources to the absence of natural enemies,” said co-authors Debasit Dutta, a postdoctoral researcher, and Sunil Bajpayee, a professor of paleontology. said in an email. .
“Another driving force may be the prevalence of warmer climate conditions than currently exist,” they said.
Based on the size of the preserved vertebrae and two different calculation methods, the researchers estimated that the snake was between 10.9 meters (36 ft) and 15.2 meters (50 ft) long, with a broad, cylindrical body. It is assumed that he was doing so.
Debajit and Vajpayee said it was likely to have lived on land rather than in water like anacondas, but its size made it unlikely that it was hanging from a tree.
The authors said that body length estimates “must be treated with caution” because they do not have complete skeletons. However, this snake would have been comparable in size to the extinct Titanoboa, the largest known snake species.
Titanoboa, identified from fossils in Colombia, may have weighed 1,140 kilograms (2,500 pounds) and measured 13 meters (42.7 feet) from snout to tail.
The role of snake size and climate
Snakes are cold-blooded animals and require heat from the environment to survive. Therefore, its size depends on how warm the climate is.
“Their internal body temperature fluctuates with the ambient temperature of their environment,” the authors said. “Therefore, higher ambient temperatures may have increased Vasuki’s internal temperature and metabolic rate, resulting in Vasuki growing so large.”
Based on information about the size and metabolism of living snakes and current temperatures, the researchers can infer that Vasuki lived in a warm tropical climate with an average annual temperature of 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit). Ta.
Dutta and Vajpayee said the snake lived in coastal wetlands and swamps.
“We cannot say exactly what kind of animals Vasuki ate,” they said. “Related fossils collected from the rocks that produced Vasuki include rays, teleost fish (catfish), turtles, crocodiles, and even primitive whales. Vasuki may have preyed on some of these. there is.”
