Scientists have discovered the fossils of a snake in India that they believe could have been the world’s largest.
It is believed that Vasuki indicus, as the species was christened, reached up to 15.2 meters in length, writes New Scientist.
The discovery was made by a team of paleontologists from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, who were searching for fossil remains of prehistoric whales. Scientists have found no less than 27 large reptilian vertebrae in a lignite mine in western India. Everything happened in 2015, but only now have the results of the analyzes been made public.
The fossils are believed to belong to the largest known snake, which went extinct 47 million years ago. The only species with comparable dimensions is Titanoboa cerrejonensis, which existed about 66-56 million years ago and reached a maximum length of 12.8-14.3 meters and weights of about a ton. Its remains were discovered in 2002 in Colombia, and they were initially attributed to an extinct species of large crocodile.
Subsequent analyzes and discoveries proved that it was, in fact, a prehistoric species of snake similar to today’s constrictors. One that, however, reached unprecedented dimensions in the modern world.
Returning to the discovery made in India, given the fact that there is not yet a complete skeleton, Indian paleontologists cannot say whether the species now discovered was as robust and heavy as Titanoboa, or whether these snakes were more slender. Whatever the case, such a snake certainly could not have lived in the trees, given its weight, scientists believe.
