The Giant Serpent That Ruled Over Prehistoric Rainforests
Before mammals claimed dominion over the Earth after the dinosaur empire fell, there was another giant that briefly sat coiled atop the food chain throne. This animal was a massive snake known as the Titanoboa that ruled the prehistoric tropical forests between 58-60 million years ago and managed to stay out of the fossil record and unknown to science until the current century.
Back in 2009, the Titanoboa was discovered by Jason Head and his team of scientists from the University of Toronto in a fossil deposit from the Cerrajon coal mine in Colombia. Since the first fossil was discovered, at least 30 individuals have been identified, one of which is a nearly complete specimen with the skull intact. In addition to this skull, there have also been at least two other skulls of this species identified. This is an anomaly in the serpent world because snakes do not have a fused skull so when they die that is often the first part of the skeletal structure to fall away and be lost to time.
A Titanoboa fossil vertebra and an anaconda vertebra. Credit: Brian Tietz - Smithsonian
Researchers have used the fossils that the Titanoboa left behind have been compared to skeletons of living snake species to piece together what an average member of this species may have looked like. Based on the available data, it is estimated that an average Titanoboa would have been around 42 feet in length and weigh in around 1.3 tons. This estimate was made using established length to weight ratios from rock pythons and anacondas and the consistency in the structure of vertebrae throughout the snake world. This is the moment where I would like to pause and note that the two largest living species of snakes can be contrasted to the prehistoric giant with the reticulated python averaging 10-20 feet in length and weighing in at 330lbs, and the green anaconda averaging 20 feet in length and 550 pounds. After crunching these numbers, the Titanoboa has claimed the title of the largest snake species to have ever lived.
In order to reach such massive sizes, the prehistoric serpent king had to reign over a certain type of ecosystem, and scientists used the Titanoboa as a sort of “prehistoric thermometer” to hypothesize what that ecosystem may have looked like. For those wondering why this creature could be used as an indication for the climate, and specifically the temperature of the ecosystem, snakes are ectotherms (or cold-blooded animals) meaning their internal temperature closely mimics that of the external environment. In order to reach their gargantuan size recorded in the fossil record, they would have required a fairly narrow range of temperatures averaging somewhere in the mid to high 80s Fahrenheit (around 32-33 degrees Celcius). There has been another group of researchers that disputes the reasoning for this prehistoric temperature estimate because sometimes when organisms cross a certain size threshold they are able to kind of regulate their internal regardless of being endo- or exothermic, but this particular research seems to have reached a hypothesized temperature that is fairly close to the original estimate. What these researchers have managed to agree upon, however, is that his very warm climate would have resulted in a very wet climate with an average yearly rainfall of 150 inches (the Amazon Rainforest averages 80 inches per year), this estimate is supported by the plant fossils that were found in the Cerrajon deposit.
Titanoboa with dyrosaur and turtle: Jason Borque - University of Florida via Smithsonian mag
This wet and warm climate would have resulted in a floodplain or tropical swampy rainforest habitat, and researchers hypothesize that the Titanoboa would have likely lived a fairly aquatic life similar to modern anacondas. This claim is backed up by research that has determined that these animals fit into the tree of life next to boas and anacondas, and it is unlikely that such a massive animal would be able to successfully live primarily among the trees and on land in a similar fashion to modern boas because their mass would have made that lifestyle rather awkward or impossible. Following this line of reasoning and clues from the fossil deposit, it is thought that the Titanoboa would have fed primarily on large crocodilians, fish, and turtles and would have subdued their prey with constriction like their modern counterparts.
Unfortunately for the giant serpent kings of old, the climate shifted away from optimal for their reign and the species eventual died out leaving only whispers of their existence to eventually be unearthed by scientists. However, with the climate trending towards warmer average temperatures, scientists have been entertaining a conversation about the possibility of one-day seeing giant snakes return to the Earth since the larges species still around technically have no upper size limit if they are given the correct environment in which to grow. While I think that it is possible for living snakes that we would consider giants to occasionally be discovered, I find it unlikely that with our species operating how it has been a new serpent king will evolve in the modern tropical forests.
The Titanoboa is a relic from a period in Earth’s history where an organism did not need limbs to wear the crown at the top of the food chain.
References:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08224
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17544885
https://www.britannica.com/animal/Titanoboa
