{"id":2071,"date":"2024-04-20T11:52:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T11:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/colossal-prehistoric-snake-discovered-in-india\/"},"modified":"2024-04-20T11:52:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T11:52:07","slug":"colossal-prehistoric-snake-discovered-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/colossal-prehistoric-snake-discovered-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Colossal prehistoric snake discovered in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

A giant prehistoric snake longer than a school bus slithered around what is now India 47 million years ago, according to new research. <\/p>\n

The extinct snake may have been one of the largest to have ever lived, dwarfing present-day anacondas and pythons that can grow to about 6 meters (20 feet). The colossal creature\u2019s scientific name is Vasuki indicus, after the mythical serpent around the neck of Hindu deity Lord Shiva and the country of its discovery.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The snake was likely a slow-moving, ambush predator that subdued its prey by constriction or squeezing them to death, according to the study, which appeared Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. <\/p>\n

Analysis of giant vertebrae fossils<\/h3>\n

The report\u2019s two authors, based at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in the state of Uttarakhand, analyzed 27 fossilized vertebrae \u2014 some still connected to one another \u2014 that were uncovered in 2005 at a coal mine in western India\u2019s Gujarat state. <\/p>\n

Initially, the team thought the bones belonged to an ancient crocodile-like creature. It wasn\u2019t until the researchers removed sediment from the fossils during the study\u2019s initial stage in 2023 that they realized they \u201cwere looking at the remains of an exceptionally large snake,\u201d the authors said. <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> Mysterious symbols found near footprints shed light on ancient humans\u2019 awareness of dinosaurs, scientists say<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The vertebrae appeared to belong to a fully grown animal, the study said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a number of possible reasons for its large size which range from favourable environment with ample food resources to lack of natural predators,\u201d coauthors Debajit Datta, a postdoctoral fellow, and Sunil Bajpai, a professor of paleontology, said in a joint email. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnother driving force could be the prevalence of warmer climatic conditions than at present,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n

Based on the size of the preserved vertebrae, the researchers estimated that the snake would have been 10.9 meters (36 feet) to 15.2 meters (50 feet) in length, based on two different calculation methods, with a broad and cylindrical body. <\/p>\n

Debajit and Bajpai said they believe it lived on land rather than water, like an anaconda, but it was unlikely to have hung out in trees due to its size. <\/p>\n

The authors said that the body length estimates \u201cshould be treated with caution\u201d because they didn\u2019t have a complete skeleton. However, the snake would have rivaled the largest known snake species \u2014 the extinct Titanoboa \u2014 in size. <\/p>\n

Identified from fossils in Colombia, Titanoboa would have weighed 1,140 kilograms (2,500 pounds) and measured 13 meters (42.7 feet) from nose to tail tip. <\/p>\n

Snake size and the role of climate<\/h3>\n

Snakes are cold-blooded and need heat from the environment to survive. Their size, therefore, depends on how warm the climate is. <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir internal body temperature fluctuates with the ambient temperature of the environment,\u201d the authors said. \u201cSo, higher ambient temperatures would have increased the internal body temperature and metabolic rate of Vasuki which in turn would have allowed it to grow so large.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> 11-year-old\u2019s beach find was likely largest known marine reptile to swim Earth\u2019s oceans, scientists say<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The team was able to infer, based on information on the size and metabolism of living snakes and current temperatures, that Vasuki lived in a warm, tropical climate, with a mean annual temperature of 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit).<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Datta and Bajpai said the snake lived in a coastal marsh and swamp. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot say precisely what sort of animals Vasuki ate,\u201d they said. \u201cAssociated fossils collected from the rocks that yielded Vasuki include ray fish, bony fish (catfish), turtles, crocodilians and even primitive whales. Vasuki may have preyed upon some of these.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A giant prehistoric snake longer than a school bus slithered around what is now India 47 million years ago, according to new research. The extinct snake may have been one of the largest to have ever lived, dwarfing present-day anacondas and pythons that can grow to about 6 meters (20 feet). The colossal creature\u2019s scientific <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}