The Fossilized Bones Of An Enormous Extinct Snake Reaching 50 Feet Long And Weighing Up To 2,200 Pounds Were Discovered In India, Making It One Of The Largest Snakes Ever Recorded
In India, researchers have discovered the fossilized bones of a giant extinct snake that measured up to a staggering 50 feet long and may have weighed up to 2,200 pounds.
It is believed to be one of the largest snakes ever recorded. The remains of the snake were dug up from a mine in the Kutch District in Gujarat State, which is located on the western coast of India.
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. In the study, the researchers estimated that the prehistoric creature was between 36 and 50 feet long.
They named it Vasuki indicus in honor of a Hindu mythical serpent, Vāsuki. The serpent is usually depicted wrapped around the neck of Shiva, the Hindu deity known as the god of destruction.
At the mine, the team excavated part of a vertebral column. It was made up of 27 vertebrae in total. The bones dated back around 47 million years ago and reached a length of up to 2.4 inches and a width of 4.3 inches.
Initially, the researchers thought the fossils belonged to an extinct crocodile, but after conducting an examination, they realized that the bones were from a now-extinct family of terrestrial snakes called Madtsoiidae.
Madtsoiidae lived for about 100 million years between the Late Cretaceous and the Late Pleistocene periods. They slithered across the regions that are now known as Madagascar, South America, Africa, India, Europe, and Australia today.
Due to its colossal size, it is likely that Vasuki was slow-moving and laid in wait for prey. Once prey was caught, the snake would’ve constricted the prey just as a python or anaconda does.
Its bones indicated that it had a broad, cylindrical body, suggesting that the snake may have inhabited a terrestrial or semi-aquatic region with a warm climate of around 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Two different methods were used to determine the size of Vasuki, and both involved comparing its vertebrae to the vertebrae of existing snakes. The first method found that Vasuki would’ve been between 36 and 40 feet long, while the second method resulted in an estimation of 48 to 50 feet long.
There is only one other snake in evolutionary history that can rival the enormity of Vasuki, and that is the extinct Titanaboa, which reached a length of approximately 43 feet. The fossils of Titanaboa date between 58 and 60 million years ago.
“The estimated body length of Vasuki is comparable to that of Titanaboa, although the vertebrae of Titanaboa are slightly larger than those of Vasuki,” Sunil Bajpai, a paleontologist at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and one of the co-authors of the study said.
The scientists can’t confirm whether Vasuki was wider or more slender than Titanaboa. Since they lack a complete skeleton, their approximations for Vasuki’s size may not be entirely accurate. Currently, the largest snake alive is the reticulated python. This python typically grows over 20 feet long.
The team hopes further research will uncover more information about Vasuki’s diet and how the snake used its muscles.
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