Massive 60 million year old snake that was found in Columbia had a shocking diet

Time of India

24-04-2025

Some creatures have always gone beyond our imagination and only seem to be out of a fictional movie. These massive beasts remained hidden in the mysterious depths of prehistoric Earth, and among them were huge snakes with lengths ranging metres.
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One such slithering creature stands out not for its venom or speed, but for its sheer size and power. This massive snake was known as the
Titanoboa cerrejonensis
. It was an ancient giant that ruled the neotropical rainforests of South America millions of years ago. It wasn't a fire-breathing dragon or a fabled monster, but something very real and reptilian.
On discovering the fossils, the scientists were left stunned, not just by the snake's massive bones, but by what those proportions meant about our planet's climate and ecosystems millions of years ago.
The creature wasn't a silent lurker in the shadows, it was an apex predator, and the climatic conditions on the Earth were hotter, denser, and wilder than our own.
The information around Titanoboa is not just about its terrific size; it's also a story of mystery, adaptation, and opens doors to the scientific mysteries on the Earth.
When were the fossils discovered?
The remains of Titanoboa cerrejonensis were first uncovered in Colombia's Cerrejón coal mine in 2009, and then researchers realised that they had come across something extraordinary.
But no one was quite prepared for just how massive and unique this extinct snake would turn out to be. Estimated to have lived between 58 and 60 million years ago, shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs, Titanoboa stretched up to 47 feet long and weighed over a ton.
How did the Titanoboa kill its prey?
According to the original report published in the Cerrejón fossil study, in terms of appearance and hunting style, the snake was similar in many ways to its modern-day relatives.
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Much like the boas and anacondas, it lacked venom and likely killed its prey through powerful constriction. 'Huge muscles wrap around the prey item… and feel the expansion of their ribcage as the animal struggles to breathe,' the original report described. 'At the end of every breath, with the lungs empty, the snake contracts its muscles a little more, tightening its grip and inching the prey closer to the point of no return.'
What did this massive beast eat?
This death grip would have made Titanoboa a formidable predator. However, what truly amazed scientists wasn't the size or the strength, but the snake's unusual diet. Initially assumed to have fed on large mammals or reptiles, further fossil discoveries, including jaw and skull fragments, revealed something unexpected. The configuration of its mouth suggested it wasn't adapted for consuming land animals. Instead, its loosely set teeth pointed to a fish-based diet, which is an evolutionary trait only seen in aquatic snake species.
Scientists say it was because of this reason that placed Titanoboa in the water for much of its life, similar to today's anacondas. The newly uncovered skull fragments, including pieces of the braincase and palate, allowed scientists to reconstruct its head, which measured around 16 inches in length, far larger than earlier estimates. Combined with new body models, these findings stretched Titanoboa's estimated full length from 42 to 47 feet.
The size helped the scientists to study about the climatic conditions on the Earth
Its enormous size also offered clues about the Earth's climate during the Paleocene epoch. Being cold-blooded, Titanoboa would have required a warm environment to maintain its metabolism. The study concluded that average temperatures in the region at the time must have ranged from 86 to 93°F, far hotter than today's equatorial rainforests. These findings also stand with broader climate models that suggest elevated CO₂ levels during the period contributed to such heat.
This discovery also opened new windows into prehistoric ecosystems. Titanoboa's fossil record helped scientists to find out about the lush, aquatic environment, rich in fish and other prey, and capable of supporting such an enormous reptile. Its adaptation to aquatic life, rather than terrestrial, also tells about the significant difference from what scientists expected of early snakes.
In the words of the researchers who examined the Cerrejón site, Titanoboa was 'like nothing they had ever seen.'