Titanoboa
Encyclopedia
Titanoboa, , meaning "titanic boa
," is a genus
of snake
that lived approximately 58 to 60 million years ago, in the Paleocene
epoch
, a 10-million-year period immediately following the dinosaur extinction event. The only known species is the Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered, which supplanted the previous record holder, Gigantophis.
ized vertebrae to those of extant snakes, researchers estimated that the T. cerrejonensis reached a maximum length of 12 metre, weighed about 1135 kg (2,502.2 lb), and measured about 1 m (3 ft) in diameter
at the thickest part of the body.
with a length of about 10 centimetres (4 in).
s of 28 individual T. cerrejonensis were announced to have been found from the Cerrejón Formation
in the coal mines
of Cerrejón
in La Guajira
, Colombia
. Prior to this discovery, few fossils of Paleocene-epoch vertebrate
s had been found in ancient tropical environments of South America
. The snake was discovered on an expedition by a team of international scientists led by Jonathan Bloch, a University of Florida
vertebrate paleontologist, and Carlos Jaramillo, a paleobotanist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
in Panama
.
ic, the discovery implies that the tropics
, the creature's habitat, must have been warmer than previously thought, averaging approximately 30 °C (86 °F). The warmer climate of the Earth during the time of T. cerrejonensis allowed cold-blooded snakes to attain much larger sizes than modern snakes. Today, larger ectothermic animals are found in the tropics, where it is hottest, and smaller ones are found further from the equator
.
Boa (genus)
Boa is a genus of non-venomous boas found in Mexico, Central and South America, Madagascar and on Reunion Island. Four species are currently recognized.The largest member of this group, B...
," is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
that lived approximately 58 to 60 million years ago, in the Paleocene
Paleocene
The Paleocene or Palaeocene, the "early recent", is a geologic epoch that lasted from about . It is the first epoch of the Palaeogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era...
epoch
Epoch (reference date)
In the fields of chronology and periodization, an epoch is an instance in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. The "epoch" then serves as a reference point from which time is measured...
, a 10-million-year period immediately following the dinosaur extinction event. The only known species is the Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered, which supplanted the previous record holder, Gigantophis.
Size
By comparing the sizes and shapes of its fossilFossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
ized vertebrae to those of extant snakes, researchers estimated that the T. cerrejonensis reached a maximum length of 12 metre, weighed about 1135 kg (2,502.2 lb), and measured about 1 m (3 ft) in diameter
Diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle...
at the thickest part of the body.
Comparison with living snakes
The largest eight of the 28 T. cerrejonensis snakes found were between 12 and 15 m (39.4 and 49.2 ft) in length. In comparison, the largest extant snakes are the Python reticulatus, which measures up to 8.7 metres (29 ft) long, and the anaconda, which measures up to 5.21 metres (17 ft) long and is considered the heaviest snake on Earth. At the other end of the scale, the smallest extant snake is Leptotyphlops carlaeLeptotyphlops carlae
Barbados Threadsnake is a species of blind threadsnake. It is the smallest snake species currently known to exist. This member of the Leptotyphlopidae family is found on the Caribbean island of Barbados....
with a length of about 10 centimetres (4 in).
Location
In 2009, the fossilFossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s of 28 individual T. cerrejonensis were announced to have been found from the Cerrejón Formation
Cerrejón Formation
The Cerrejón Formation is a geologic formation in Colombia dating back to the Middle-Late Paleocene. It is found in the El Cerrejón subbasin of the Racheria basin of La Guajira. The formation consists of bituminous coal fields that are an important economic resource. Coal from the Cerrejón...
in the coal mines
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
of Cerrejón
Cerrejón
Cerrejón is a coal mine located in the Guajira department in the north of Colombia. It is the largest mining operation in Colombia and among the largest open-pit coal mines in the world. The legal entity managing the Cerrejón operation is known as Carbones del Cerrejón Ltd...
in La Guajira
Department of La Guajira
La Guajira is a department of Colombia. It occupies most of its namesake peninsula, the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, facing the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela in the northern most part of South America...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. Prior to this discovery, few fossils of Paleocene-epoch vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s had been found in ancient tropical environments of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. The snake was discovered on an expedition by a team of international scientists led by Jonathan Bloch, a University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
vertebrate paleontologist, and Carlos Jaramillo, a paleobotanist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed...
in Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
.
Climate
Because snakes are ectothermEctotherm
An ectotherm, from the Greek εκτός "outside" and θερμός "hot", refers to organisms that control body temperature through external means. As a result, organisms are dependent on environmental heat sources and have relatively low metabolic rates. For example, many reptiles regulate their body...
ic, the discovery implies that the tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
, the creature's habitat, must have been warmer than previously thought, averaging approximately 30 °C (86 °F). The warmer climate of the Earth during the time of T. cerrejonensis allowed cold-blooded snakes to attain much larger sizes than modern snakes. Today, larger ectothermic animals are found in the tropics, where it is hottest, and smaller ones are found further from the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
.
Robotic Titanoboa
In 2011 Charlie Brinson and his team created a 35 foot long electro-mechanical, robotic reincarnation of the Titanoboa snake, using 20 high strength aluminum vertebrae and 40 proportional hydraulic cylinders. There are plans to extend it to the full 50 foot length.External links
- A Snake the Size of a Plane: How did prehistoric animals get so big? By Nina Shen Rastogi. Feb. 5, 2009.