Indiana Jones, take heart: A snake on the loose 58 million years ago would help anyone understand your phobia. Scientists have unearthed the fossilized remains of the largest snake ever discovered: a 42-foot behemoth weighing more than a ton, according to an analysis in today's issue of the journal Nature. By studying fossilized sections of the remains, scientists were able to estimate the size of the crocodile-consuming boa.
The study says titanoboa (it means "titanic boa") was the largest non-marine vertebrate from the epoch following the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and "greatly exceeds the largest verifiable body lengths" of the largest-known python (29.53 feet) or Eunectes, a species of which the anaconda is a member (22.97 feet).
Titanoboa is a relative of the modern-day anaconda, a non-venomous snake inhabiting freshwater rivers in Central and South America and preying on carnivores it crushes with powerful muscles. A meal is satisfied with one long gulp.
