In a lignite mine in India, scientists have discovered the fossil of a vertebrate, specifically the remains of the largest snake ever to have lived on Earth, measuring about 15 meters in length.
Scientists believe that this snake, longer than a Tyrannosaurus Rex, lived in the swamps of India around 47 million years ago.
Researchers found 27 vertebrae of this snake, including several that are still in the same position they would have been if the animal were alive.
The snake, named Vasuki, resembled modern pythons and was not venomous.
The fossil remains were found in the Panandhro area in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
“Given its size, Vasuki was a slow-moving predator that would have constricted its prey with muscular strength, much like anacondas and pythons do today. This snake lived in a swampy area near the coast at a time when the global temperature was higher than today,” said Debajit Datta, a postdoctoral researcher in paleontology at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) and lead author of the study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Due to the incomplete nature of the remains found, researchers estimate that this snake was between 11 and 15 meters long and weighed about one ton.
Snakes of this kind lived in the Cenozoic geological period, which began after the end of the dinosaur era about 66 million years ago.
