Smithsonian Channel

If the name doesn’t scare you, the size will. The fossilized remains of Titanoboa, a boa-like snake more than 42 feet long and weighing over a ton were recently discovered in South America. Carlos Jaramillo, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and Jonathan Bloch, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Florida’s Florida Museum of Natural History, unearthed fossil remains of a new snake species, Titanoboa cerrejonensis in the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia.

An Artists representation of Titanoboa. Art by: Jason Bourque, University of Florida

For a period of time following the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, Titanoboa was the largest non-marine vertebrate. Its diet consisted of crocodiles and turtles and apparently it didn’t mind the warm temperatures of an ancient tropical rainforest.

Jaramillo says Titanoboa’s size indicates that it lived in an environment where the average yearly temperature was 30-40 degrees Celsius. “This temperature estimate is much hotter than modern temperatures in tropical rainforests anywhere in the world. That means that tropical rainforests could exist at temperatures 3-4 degrees Celsius hotter than modern tropical rainforests experience,” said Jaramillo.

It’s all very fascinating but if you’re like me you need a little help envisioning the girth of this reptile. Visit this site to see a representation of how Titanoboa would compare to us little humans!

If you just can’t get enough of giant snakes, join Smithsonian Channel on a journey to South America to find giant Anacondas and watch the clip below from our program Wanted:Anaconda