Initially identified as the remains of a crocodile, these fossil vertebrae actually belonged to a massive snake that lived 47 million years ago. At 15 metres, it could be the largest snake ever discovered.
Fifteen meters! This is the length that this snake, whose fossil remains were found in India, can reach. This cold volume in behindbehind It can therefore be made Vasuki indicator The largest snake to ever crawl on Earth, dethroning today's anacondas and others SnakesSnakes Which rarely reach a size of more than six metres, as well as Titanoboa, a snake that lived 60 million years ago.
The remains were initially identified as belonging to a crocodile
The published study revealed that it was not reassuring to wander in hot and humid forests in the Eocene era, 47 million years ago, knowing that this predator was lurking in the forest. In the magazine Scientific reports Which offers discovery. Vasuki indicator In fact, it most likely lived on land rather than in trees or water, due to its size and weight.
This new species went almost unnoticed. Initially, the 27 vertebrae found in 2005 in a coal mine in the western Indian state of Gujarat were attributed to the remains of a crocodile. That won't be the case until 2023, when FossilFossil It was actually cleaned up, and paleontologists realized it wasn't crocodilecrocodileBut it's a huge snake.
The hot and humid environment favored the large size of Vasuki indicus
This disproportionate size can be linked to the particularly favorable environmental conditions that prevailed at the time: an average temperature of 28°C, abundant resources and the absence of predators are all factors that certainly allowed these large-sized snakes to evolve.
