Monster-Like Snake Found in Colombia

Fossilized Remains of Monster-Like Snake Found in Colombia
By VOA News
04 February 2009
An international team of scientists has discovered the fossilized remains of the largest snake known to have lived – a monster that weighed more than 1,000 kilograms and was about the size of a bus, at around 13 meters in length.
An artists rendition from the British science magazine Nature shows the world’s biggest snake, 04 Feb 2009
An artists rendition from the British science magazine Nature shows world’s biggest snake, 04 Feb 2009
The researchers say the boa-like creature roamed the rainforests of what is now northern Colombia some 60 million years ago, when the world was far warmer than it is now.
The scientists who found the remains named the creature, Titanoboa cerrejonensiss, titanic boa from Cerrejon, after the open-pit coal mine where the bones were discovered.
They say the gigantic snake probably munched on crocodiles and lived like modern anacondas, spending most of its time in the water and wrapping itself around its unfortunate prey.
The discovery breaks the record for snake length by about three meters, surpassing that of a creature that lived about 40 million years ago in Egypt.
The longest of today’s snakes is a python measuring about nine meters.
The scientists’ findings have been published in the journal Nature.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

In your face, Egypt!

For those who might be wondering why in periods of the past such gigantic animals were so common, I believe it had to do with the fact that there was more oxygen in the air, and so a lungful of air was more efficient, allowing for bigger animals.  

Radunagi,

are u sure?

more the Oxygen , lesser the surface area requried, (Oxidation process)

if the Oxygen is less, more surface area is requried to absorb it

this is my personal analysis, this could be wrong

I feel that the variation of size is mainly due to resources, environment and competition

Remember survival of the fittest!!!

If the resources are plentiful with little or no competition, then the animal might be larger, 

deer had shed weight because it had predators, the predator had to shed weight to keep up witht the prey.

more the Oxygen , lesser the surface area requried,

(Oxidation process)

There are two ways to balance it. Reduce the absorbing area or increase the amount of substance the oxygen needs for. 

deer had shed weight because it had predators, the predator had to shed weight to keep up witht the prey.

How long they will shed their weight? To zero?