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Largest Prehistoric Snake On Record Discovered In Colombia
minimen writes "Scientists have recovered fossils of a 60-million-year-old South American snake. Named Titanoboa cerrejonensis by its discoverers, the size of the snake's vertebrae suggest it weighed 1140 kg (2,500 pounds) and measured 13 meters (42.7 feet) nose to tail tip. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest snake ever measured was 10 meters (33 feet) in length. The heaviest snake, a python, weighed 183 kilograms (403 pounds)."
I don't believe it :P
Was it discovered at Amelia Earhart's crash site?
continues to be held in my pants.
but the article I read this morning attributed the size to a warmer period of time in Earth's history. It said we would have to worry about this type of thing if global warming continued except for the fact that we have destroyed the natural habitat for giant snakes. I'm not sure whether to cheer for ecological catastrophy or not...
A snaaaaake! A snaaaaake!
Seriously, it's scary when real-life produces a more terrifying monster than Hollywood. This creature could have devoured elephants, and likely considered their actual diet (giant crocodiles) a light snack.
I guess it's the same with Jaws and other Hollywood classics, though. Megalodons were capable of fitting five upright adult humans between its jaws, the sharks of Hollywood could barely manage a leg.
The largest eagles that could fly had 15'-17' wingspans - Hitchcock's Birds were nothing in comparison.
And Indricotherium transsouralicum, at twenty tonnes, was definitely nastier than many of the beasties in Jurassic Park.
Is it that the real-life counterparts to the horrors of scriptwriter imagination are too far beyond human comprehension? Too far beyond budget constraints? Or too big to fit on the cinema screens?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
But could it patch up wounded soldiers?
The biggest ruby is just 8.2 lbs, compared to the 403 lbs python.
This snake reminds me of the sandworms of Dune.
But if a Snake like that told me to eat the forbidden fruit, I would.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Aren't you afraid it's going to bite your tiny penis?
No, it was found in my Trousers.
I suppose the inside of your ass is, technically speaking, inside your pants. Is that what you meant, sweetie?
You thought my name meant what? How very dare you!
I think my level 12 wizard fought this in a D&D campaign, if I recall it failed it's fort save and was disintegrated. Though obviously that didn't happen to this one as disintegration leaves only dust as everyone knows.
I'm not saying this isn't interesting or that the estimates are completely worthless, but we find some fossilized snake vertebrae, make an educated guess as to what part of the the snake they came from, extrapolate based on modern snake proportions the size and weight of the entire snake, then estimate the temperature of this snake's original environment based on that size. I'm no biologist, so maybe it's more accurate than it sounds, but it seems there is a pretty significant margin of error at each step, not to mention a lot of assumptions.
Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
Still smaller than mine!
You never get laid, do you? Because there has never existed a living being with any body cavity big enough to accommodate something that's 13 meters (42.7 feet) in length or 183 kilograms (403 pounds) in mass...
"Its snakes out there this big???!!!"
I thought the Garden of Eden was somewhere in the Middle East.
If there were one or two left, those RIAA douchebags would have something to ride to court the next time they go after the pension of some disabled war vet.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Well, if you consider that:
- A T-Rex by modern estimates can be as low as 5m/s (11 mph) and by other estimates a sprint of over 10m/s would produce fatal forces in its bones. It only had to chase down animals his own size, which also waddled slowly.
- the Indricotherium Transsouralicum that you mention was basically an overly massive giraffe. Ok, technically a rhino which had evolved to fill the same niche as a giraffe. It was a herbivore which ate leaves off trees. Also you probably could outrun him too.
- you'd probably be as impractical a prey for a Megalodon as it would be for a normal shark to hunt sardines. Marine animals which feed on stuff as disproportionately small compared to their own size, do so by filtering them out of the water (see the whale, for example), not by chasing them individually and chewing them to bits. So for a Megalodon you'd probably not even register as an interesting prey. It fed on similarly overgrown things.
A lot of the things nature produced just aren't as scary as you seem think. A movie about a battleship-sized shark that completely ignores the hero, or about a T-Rex that can be outrun even at a jogging or marathon pace, well, just wouldn't be much of a horror. A herd of small fast velociraptors is actually scarier by far.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
best thing I have read all day
I don't get it.
In Soviet Russia, giant snake eat girl. In decadent West...
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
was measured at 13.5 inches( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_penis#Size ) At least the number matches even if the unit doesn't.
but I am the proud owner of the largest _modern_ snake. ;)
Did the fossils have marks near the heart-lung area, perhaps reminiscent of several chainsaw wounds?
It's based on the rhino in the same way you're based on a monkey. It doesn't mean it's the same animal. It's a super-massive giraffe which evolved out of a rhino ancestor.
The muscle to weight ratio won't be the same as for a rhino, hence expect acceleration and speed to be different. The very long neck also probably doesn't help with either acceleration or turning (still acceleration), because of _torque_. You accelerate too fast in either direction and all that mass and size combine to something bone-snapping. Basically it could probably trot menacingly your way at best, but nothing you couldn't outsprint or outturn.
But even that's not the main point. The main point is: herbivore. Unless you manage to make it feel majorly threatened, it'll leave you alone. And at that size, I'd say you won't register as a major threat. Same as giraffes don't go hunting rats to pass the time. So you'd have the darned thing peacefully munching leaves while ignoring you. Not quite the most thrilling scenario for a horror movie, that's all I'm saying ;)
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
judging by the size of many normal household critters down here
You don't ever want to see a giant cockroach flying straight at you as you stumble to the bathroom half asleep at 3 AM
SARAVA!
http://www.researchportal.be/en/projects.pdf?classifications=B330_iwDisciplineCode&page=0&ordering=title&descending=false&itemsPerPage=50
The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM,55Ma) marks the onset of the Eocene and is characterised by a sudden worldwide temperature increase of ~5oC, lasting for ~100.000 years. The release of large quantities of methane from the seafloor probably played a key role in this event, but the primary cause is unclear.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7132/abs/nature05591.html
The Eocene and Oligocene epochs (approx 55 to 23 million years ago) comprise a critical phase in Earth history. An array of geological records supported by climate modeling indicates a profound shift in global climate during this interval, from a state that was largely free of polar ice caps to one in which ice sheets on Antarctica approached their modern size. However, the early glaciation history of the Northern Hemisphere is a subject of controversy.
If we didn't have those blasted ice caps hanging over our heads, the modern era of global warming wouldn't be half so terrifying, and we could better focus our energies on fleeing the fauna.
If the earth was 10C more back then... and we're near a climate change... we'll see them back soon!! Prepare yourself !!
I can't call that English
eom