Extinct Snake That Measured Up To 50 Feet Long Discovered In India

Extinct snake of 50 feet long discovered in India according to new research. The extinct snake may have been the first one to have been discovered.

The extinct snake may have been one of the largest to have ever lived, dwarfing modern anacondas and pythons that can reach 6 meters (20 feet). The scientific name for the colossal creature is Vasuki indicus, after the mythical serpent that wraps around the neck of Hindu deity Lord Shiva, as well as the country where it was discovered.

The snake was most likely a slow-moving, ambush predator that killed its prey by constriction or squeezing, according to the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

The report’s two authors, from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in Uttarakhand, examined 27 fossilized vertebrae discovered in 2005 at a coal mine in western India’s Gujarat state, some of which were still connected to one another.

Initially, the team believed the bones belonged to an ancient crocodile-like creature. It wasn’t until the researchers removed sediment from the fossils during the study’s initial stage in 2023 that they realized they “were looking at the remains of an exceptionally large snake,” the authors said.

According to the study, the vertebrae appeared to be those of a fully grown animal.

“There are a number of possible reasons for its large size, ranging from a favorable environment with abundant food resources to a lack of natural predators,” co-authors Debajit Datta, a postdoctoral fellow, and Sunil Bajpai, a paleontology professor, said in a joint email.

“Another driving force could be the prevalence of warmer climatic conditions than at present,” the researchers said. Based on the preserved vertebrae, the researchers estimated that the snake would have been 10.9 meters (36 feet) to 15.2 meters (50 feet) long, with a broad and cylindrical body, using two different calculation methods.

Debajit and Bajpai believe it lived on land rather than in water, similar to an anaconda, but given its size, it was unlikely to have hung out in trees.

The authors stated that the body length estimates “should be treated with caution” because they lacked a complete skeleton. However, the snake’s size would have been comparable to that of the largest known snake species, the extinct Titanoboa.

Titanoboa, discovered from fossils in Colombia, weighed 1,140 kilograms (2,500 pounds) and measured 13 meters (42.7 feet) from nose to tail tip.

Extinct Snake Of 50 Feet Long Discovered In India – Watch Video 

READ ALSO: Top Afghan Taliban Religious Scholar, Mohammad Omar Jan Akhundzada Assassinated In Pakistan