2024-04-19 17:03:44
Washington/Ahmedabad: Scientists in India have discovered the fossilized remains of an ancient snake. It may be the largest snake ever known. According to estimates, this giant snake could have been 50 feet long, which is about 6.5 feet (2 meters) more than the current record holder Titanoboa. The name of this new species of snake found in India is Vasuki Indicus. Its genus name is derived from the mythological king of serpents in Hinduism. According to the report of Live Science, a total of 27 fossil vertebrae of this giant snake have been discovered in the Panandhrao lignite mine of Gujarat. These fossils are from the Eocene era, about 47 million years ago. The authors associated with this research believe that the fossil is that of a fully developed adult. The team estimated the snake’s total body length using the width of its spinal bones. The height of Vasuki Indicus can be between 36-50 feet. However, the team says that there is a possibility of error in this. The findings related to this were published in the Scientific Reports journal on Thursday along with the team’s estimates.
length measured like this
Researchers used two methods to determine the possible range of body length of Vasuki indicus. Both methods used extant snakes to determine the relationship between the width of a snake’s vertebrae and its length. But there were differences in their datasets. One database used data from modern snakes in the Boidae family, which includes boas and pythons and are the largest snakes alive today. All other types of live snakes were used in other databases.
Found the biggest snake?
Debjit Dutta, co-author of this study, is a postdoctoral researcher at IIT Roorkee. According to the Live Science report, he said that Vasuki snakes belong to an extinct species, which is distantly related to the python and anaconda species. Therefore, existing snakes are being used to estimate the measurement of their body length, due to which there may be uncertainties. They estimate that Vasuki indicus is larger than Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered, which lived about 60 million years ago and was found in northeastern Colombia in 2002.
What was Vasuki snake like?
Vasuki indicus belongs to a group of snakes called Madtsoidae, which first appeared in South America, Africa, India and southern Europe between 66 and 100 million years ago. Looking at the places where the ribs attach to the vertebrae, researchers believe that Vasuki indicus had a wide, cylindrical body and lived mostly on the ground. In comparison, aquatic snakes have a very flat, streamlined body. Scientists estimate that it thrived in a warm climate averaging about 28 degrees Celsius.