Gulf Today

Fossils of colossal snake unearthed in India mine

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WASHINGTON: Fossil vertebrae unearthed in a lignite mine are the remains of one of the largest snakes that ever lived, a monster estimated at up to 49 feet (15 metres) in length — longer than a T. rex — that prowled the swamps of India around 47 million years ago.

Scientists said on Thursday they have recovered 27 vertebrae from the snake, including a few still in the same position as they would have been when the limbless reptile was alive. They said the snake, which they named Vasuki indicus, would have looked like a modern-day large python and would not have been venomous.

The mine is located in the Panandhro area of the Kutch district in western India’s state of Gujarat. Lignite is the lowest grade of coal.

“Considerin­g its large size, Vasuki was a slowmoving ambush predator that would subdue its prey through constricti­on like anacondas and pythons. This snake lived in a marshy swamp near the coast at a time when global temperatur­es were higher than today,” said Debajit Data, a postdoctor­al researcher in paleontolo­gy at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) and lead author of the study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Because of the incomplete nature of the Vasuki remains, the researcher­s gave an estimated length range of 36-49 feet (11-15 metres) and a rough estimate of a metric ton in weight.

Vasuki, named ater the snake king associated with the Hindu deity Shiva, rivals in size another huge prehistori­c snake called Titanoboa, whose fossils were discovered in a coal mine in northern

Colombia, as announced in 2009. Titanoboa, estimated at 42 feet (13 metres) long and 1.1 metric tons, lived 58-60 million years ago. The reticulate­d python is the longest extant snake, sometimes measuring 20-30 feet (6-9 metres).

“The estimated body length of Vasuki is comparable to that of Titanoboa, although the vertebrae of Titanoboa are slightly larger than those of Vasuki. However, at this point, we cannot say if Vasuki was more massive or slender compared to Titanoboa,” said paleontolo­gist and study co-author Sunil Bajpai, a professor at IITR.

These huge snakes lived during the Cenozoic era, which began ater the dinosaur age ended 66 million years ago. Perhaps the largest-known Tyrannosau­rus rex is a specimen named Sue at the Field Museum in Chicago, at 40-1/2 feet (12.3 metres) long, though a T. rex would have been more massive than these snakes.

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A panoramic view of Panandhro Lightnite Mine, Kutch, Gujarat, India. Insert image shows the remains of prehistori­c snake Vasuki indicus.
Reuters ↑ A panoramic view of Panandhro Lightnite Mine, Kutch, Gujarat, India. Insert image shows the remains of prehistori­c snake Vasuki indicus.

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