Titanoboa
Period of life:
60–58 mya
Period:
Habitat:
Freshwater environment
Taxonomy:
Lizards and snakes
Height:
0.5 m
Countries:
Titanoboa is the largest known extinct snake lived in Columbia territory about 60 million years ago. The name of reptile means "titanic boa". Its fossils were recovered in the coal mines of Cerrejón in the north of Colombia.
As it emerged only four million years after dinosaurs mass extinction Titanoboa had no rivals in length. It was the most enormous and powerful snake ever lived on Earth measuring 13 metres in length and weighing 1.5 tonnes. It was twice larger than anaconda or python. As the boa had no poison gland it squeezed or constricted its prey to death by cutting off oxygen. The fatal squeezing had the force equal to three Eiffel Towers weight leaving the prey no chance to survive. Having suffocated the prey Titanoboa swallowed it and digested slowly. The snake diet included fish, small mammals, turtles, crocodiles and even birds.
Titanoboa lived near the water basins in humid rainforests with average annual ambient temperature about 30 degrees above zero. It is assumed that Paleocene warm climate allowed cold-blooded reptile to attain gigantic sizes.
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