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World's Largest Snake

Who Knew?

Giant species ruled earth for 10 million years.

cheats/2009/02/05/worlds-largest-snake/snake_zi95j2
Univeristy of Florida

Have your nightmares been bland recently? Here you go: Fossil hunters working in an open-pit coal mine in Colombia have discovered the remains of 28 giant snakes that ruled the earth for 10 million years during the prehistoric period. The "Titanboas" weighed 1.25 tons and stretched 45 feet long. The snake snacked on turtles and ancient ancestors of the modern crocodile. It's possible that the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago opened the opportunity for the Titanboa's evolution. By comparison, the longest living species recorded is a 33-foot reticulated python from Southeast Asia, although the species average is only 20 feet. One researcher said, “The snake that tried to eat Jennifer Lopez in the movie Anaconda is not as big as the one we found."

Read it at The Times of London