![]() But the enormous viper slithered alongside large mammals such as deer and horses, Georgalis said. Little is known about Laophis' looks or lifestyle, as snake skulls don't preserve well in the fossil record, Kear said. "Perhaps you're looking at unique aspects of their biology in the past," Kear said. Because the climate was so cool, it's a mystery how these ancient turtles and snakes kept their metabolisms revving enough to grow so huge. The region where Laophis was discovered was also home to enormous tortoises, some of which grew as big as cars, Kear said. Around 4 million years ago, the climate was cooling, and modern grassland ecosystems were emerging, Kear said. Titanoboa, a boa constrictor-like snake from 60 million years ago, measured about 45 feet (14 m) long.įor Georgalis and Kear, however, the intrigue comes not from record-breaking size alone, but from the question of what such a monster was doing in temperate Europe at all. Other, nonvenomous snakes do beat any of these vipers at the size game, however. And the newfound snake's bulky body makes it the heavyweight champion of all venomous snakes who ever lived, viper or not. The snake is probably the largest viper ever found, far surpassing the modern record-holder Lachesis muta from South America, which grows up to a maximum length of 12 feet (3.7 m) and weighs no more than 11 lbs. Snake vertebrae follow predictable patterns in relation to overall body size, which made it easy to extrapolate the snake's huge size from a single bone, Kear told Live Science. "This snake was indeed impressive," Georgalis wrote in an email to Live Science. Now, a single vertebra, barely an inch long, found near Thessaloniki, confirms the existence of Owen's enormous viper. Owen named the specimen Laophis crotaloides and reported it as the largest viper evr in the Quarterly Journal of The Geological Society (Vipers are one family of venomous snake, known for their hollow, retractable fangs.)īut the original 13 vertebrae have been lost, and no one had ever found any additional fossils to back up Owen's claim, said study researcher Georgios Georgalis, a graduate student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Their lifespan in the wild is about ten years.The tale of the enormous viper begins in 1857, when paleontologist Sir Richard Owen - the person who coined the word "dinosaur" - described 13 fossilized snake vertebrae found near Thessaloniki, Greece. Baby snakes are about 2 feet long when they are born and are almost immediately able to swim and hunt. Reproductionįemale anacondas retain their eggs and give birth to two to three dozen live young. ![]() Jaws attached by stretchy ligaments allow them to swallow their prey whole, no matter the size, and they can go weeks or months without food after a big meal. Anacondas are nonvenomous constrictors, coiling their muscular bodies around captured prey and squeezing until the animal asphyxiates. They reach their monumental size on a diet of wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, capybara, caimans, and even jaguars. Their eyes and nasal openings are on top of their heads, allowing them to lay in wait for prey while remaining nearly completely submerged. ![]() They are cumbersome on land, but stealthy and sleek in the water. On Land and in WaterĪnacondas live in swamps, marshes, and slow-moving streams, mainly in the tropical rain forests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. Other anaconda species, all from South America and all smaller than the green anaconda, are the yellow, dark-spotted, and Bolivian varieties. Females are significantly larger than males. Green anacondas can grow to more than 29 feet, weigh more than 550 pounds, and measure more than 12 inches in diameter. Learn how they maintain their massive size. The semiaquatic snakes weigh as much as 550 pounds, and can be as long as a school bus.
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