The Titanoboa: The Largest Snake That Ever Lived

Some snakes alive today can grow to enormous sizes. There are tales of some large snakes, such as the anaconda or reticulated python, growing to 20 to 30 feet. However, millions of years ago, a much larger serpent roamed the Earth—the Titanoboa. This colossal creature was the largest known snake to ever exist, reaching lengths of about 50 feet and widths of approximately 3 feet, which is comparable to the size of a school bus!

The Titanoboa species was discovered in 2009 by a multi-organizational team of scientists at the Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia. Jonathan Bloch, a curator in vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, co-led the expedition. He estimates that if this giant snake slithered past a person, its body would have reached as high as their waist. This discovery reshaped our understanding of how large snakes can grow, as scientists previously agreed that no snake exceeded 40 feet in size.

Before the discovery, the general consensus among scientists was that no snake could grow larger than 40 feet. However, the Titanoboa was not just a snake; it was also the largest known predator on Earth during its time. It existed roughly 65 million years ago, shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs and before the rise of the Megalodon—a giant shark species that could grow to 58 feet long. This immense creature ruled the land just 6 million years following the reign of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex.

Why Was It So Large?

According to Carlos Jaramillo, a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and co-organizer of the team that discovered the Titanoboa, its large size could be attributed to the much warmer temperatures that prevailed during that era. The climate 65 million years ago was vastly different from what we experience today, suggesting that conditions were much more conducive to the growth of larger reptiles.

Snakes, along with other cold-blooded animals, grow in size based on the temperatures of their environment. The rainforest habitat where the Titanoboa lived was significantly warmer than even the hottest areas of the world today. Jaramillo stated that the Cerrejon region was a very productive tropical rainforest with temperatures about 10 degrees warmer than today's climate. This allowed the Titanoboa to thrive, with specimens found ranging from 36 to 50 feet long.

While scientists are still uncertain about when exactly the Titanoboa went extinct or the reasons behind its extinction, it is believed to have lived during the Paleocene epoch, approximately 60 to 57 million years ago. The prevailing theories suggest that it likely died out at some point during the latest Paleocene or early Eocene, around 57 to 53 million years ago. Interestingly, its descendants, including modern boas and anacondas, still exist today, although thankfully, they do not reach the colossal sizes of their ancient relative!