The largest species of snake today, which weighs in at about 550 pounds and is 30 feet long, is tiny in comparison to the newly discovered Titanoboa.
The extinct snake, whose skeletal remains were discovered by a research team co-led by UF vertebrate paleontologist Jonathan Bloch, weighed in at about 2,500 pounds and 43 feet long.
In other words, more than the standard Toyota Yaris and around the same length as a 15-yard field goal.
"That's as large as the biggest T-Rex skeleton that has ever been found," Bloch said.
The Titanoboa's partial skeletal remains were found on expeditions to a Colombian coal mine from 2005 to 2007 where researchers were looking for pre-historic crocodile and turtle fossils.
The boxes holding the snake's remains were unknowingly labeled "crocodiles" and shipped to the Florida Museum of Natural History for study. After careful inspection and skeletal comparison, researchers discovered the crocodile bones had been mislabeled.
"That's usually what happens during research," Bloch said. "You go looking for something and find something else instead."
According to Bloch, the Titanoboa was the largest vertebrate for at least 20 million years after the extinction of dinosaurs and probably dined on crocodiles.
According to Bloch, the discovery of the Titanoboa shows the extreme relationship between climate and body size in reptiles. Temperatures on the equator 55 million to 65 million years ago were 10 degrees hotter, averaging 91 degrees Fahrenheit.
"With 100 years of global warming," Bloch said "snakes like Titanoboa could live again."
UF freshman Mu Mudenda, who owns a two-foot ball python named Kaa, reflected on the size of the ancient reptile.
"It's not anything I'd want to keep as a pet," Mudenda said. "It'd probably eat my snake like spaghetti."
