Titanoboa: Prehistoric Monster Snake

[skywalker]

Titanoboa: Prehistoric Monster Snake

A recently discovered prehistoric snake will soon be slithering its way into New York City, as well as onto National television. The Titanoboa is the largest snake known in the fossil record and was first discovered in a coal mine in Colombia in 2005. It was estimated to be approximately 48 feet long and to have weighed over 2500 pounds. Though closely related to the modern Boa constrictor it was much, much larger and probably lived in water like an anaconda would. Luckily for us the snake died out approximately 65 million years ago at about the same time the dinosaurs went extinct.



A full-sized replica is on its way to New York City as part of a promotion for a new exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of Natural History in D.C. which will open on March 30. There also will be a TV special on the Smithsonian Channel called, "Titanoboa: Monster Snake." The two-hour program will be broadcast on April 1. And no, it is not an April Fool's Joke. This snake really did exist...a long time ago.

[paulette]

Time travelers beware. If the battery dies in one of your perimeter electronic fence units you will probably provide a meager amount of protein and your whole line cease to exist.

[skywalker]

Could the Titanoboa Still Exist?



In 1959 a Belgian helicopter pilot named Colonel Remy Van Lierde observed this snake while flying over the Katanga province of the Belgian Congo. He estimated it to be approximately 50 feet in length and said that it reared up and threatened to strike at his helicopter.

Could this be a living example of the supposedly extinct Titanoboa? It's possible. There are still a lot of unexplored areas of the world, especially where thick jungle growth still exists. it would be easy for an animal like that to hide.

[skywalker]

Here are a couple more photos of giant snakes that have been making the rounds on the internet lately. Don't know if they are real or not.

This first one was allegedly taken in China and is reported to be a 55 foot Boa constrictor that was killed by a worker with a bulldozer.


www.weirdasianews.com/2010/02/16/giant-snake-china-scares-man-death/

The snake was supposedly one of a pair of giant reptiles that was discovered while a construction crew was plowing up mounds of dirt while building a road.

One worker is said to have died of what appears to be a heart attack while the rest of the men fled in terror and only returned when the live snake had left the scene.

The story and photo was published in a newspaper called The People's Daily, which is the official paper of the communist party, but government officials have declared it to be a hoax since no snakes of that size or species are known to inhabit that part of the country. That doesn't mean they don't exist though.

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The second photo is something that Shami found on Facebook. I can't find any info to go along with it but I believe it is almost certainly a hoax because a snake that size would have to be at least a couple of hundred feet long. That would be like the Godzilla of snakes.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the nightmares Morgan... ~poke~

[lois]

Jul 10, 2012 18:17:11 GMT -6 skywalker said:

Here are a couple more photos of giant snakes that have been making the rounds on the internet lately. Don't know if they are real or not.

This first one was allegedly taken in China and is reported to be a 55 foot Boa constrictor that was killed by a worker with a bulldozer.


www.weirdasianews.com/2010/02/16/giant-snake-china-scares-man-death/

The snake was supposedly one of a pair of giant reptiles that was discovered while a construction crew was plowing up mounds of dirt while building a road.

One worker is said to have died of what appears to be a heart attack while the rest of the men fled in terror and only returned when the live snake had left the scene.

The story and photo was published in a newspaper called The People's Daily, which is the official paper of the communist party, but government officials have declared it to be a hoax since no snakes of that size or species are known to inhabit that part of the country. That doesn't mean they don't exist though.

*******************************************

The second photo is something that Shami found on Facebook. I can't find any info to go along with it but I believe it is almost certainly a hoax because a snake that size would have to be at least a couple of hundred feet long. That would be like the Godzilla of snakes.

Now that I see this blow up it sure does not look so real. What is wrong with the truck. It appears to be growing hair. ;D ;D

My son shared it with another facebook profile. . Look at my wall and click the link . See if you can find on that profile whatever it is. It has all kinds of weird stuff on it.

Anyway you can see the Egyptian writing on my wall which came with the photo. there are other photos with people around it.

Too bad no one here reads Egyptian ;D ;D

Like the boxes on the beaches of Oregon .. there was nothing in the news. I could not find it when I Googled it today.

We were just talking about snakes. Hope those who do dream about them don't dream of any this size.

[Morgan Sierra]

I know that every now and then they have a contest on Photoshop to see who can make the best fake photo of something. They did one a few years ago with giant human skeletons, so they may have recently done one with giant snakes. That might be where these two recent snake photos came from.

The one supposedly from China does kind of look real but the snake may not actually be as big as it appears. Notice how the giant tractor is holding the bucket towards the camera so the snake is much closer than the people are. That could make it appear bigger than it actually is. It may be a real snake but might actually only be half that size...which would put it about the size of some typical large snakes that have been found.

[skepticjohn]

In response to the Chinese photo of the snake hanging on the excavator: here is my analysis... It's clear that camera perspective is playing a big role in this unless you believe that there is a vine there with leaves the size of manhole covers. I searched out some dimensioned drawings of excavators and came up with 4 feet as an approximate height for the bucket. I laid out some rectangles corresponding to the height of the bucket around the snake. There are 4 whole ones and two approximately halved ones. 4x4+2x2=20 or approximately 20 feet. You could not get the snake up to 50-55 feet unless you make the bucket 8 feet tall which I think unlikely for this excavator. Just my two cents worth.

[Deleted]

I'm glad you added your deuce of pennies worth Skepticjohn. Balance is never a bad thing..when you have a room chock full of UFO believers, researchers and paranormal hunters..it's nice to have the flip side of the coin now and then too, injecting a bit of rationale. We do that here too (mostly, well sometimes) taking objective looks at stories, pictures and videos. No matter how disappointing..reality is preferred (in my book). We're used to not being able to prove a thing about UFO's or abductions but it's nice when it can't be disproved either Welcome to the forum!

[skepticjohn]

Thanks Jokelly - actually I'm probably less of a skeptic than the handle would imply. I've had more than one paranormal encounter and am interested in cryptozoology. Very open to ufo's and may have seen one as a kid. As you say, mysteries are the spice of life but it's still nice to haul up the occasional coelacanth.

[Deleted]

We're happy to have you here

[auntym]

WELCOME SKEPTICJOHN...its nice to meet you...

[Morgan Sierra]

Oct 13, 2012 21:13:40 GMT -6 skepticjohn said:

In response to the Chinese photo of the snake hanging on the excavator: here is my analysis... It's clear that camera perspective is playing a big role in this unless you believe that there is a vine there with leaves the size of manhole covers. I searched out some dimensioned drawings of excavators and came up with 4 feet as an approximate height for the bucket. I laid out some rectangles corresponding to the height of the bucket around the snake. There are 4 whole ones and two approximately halved ones. 4x4+2x2=20 or approximately 20 feet. You could not get the snake up to 50-55 feet unless you make the bucket 8 feet tall which I think unlikely for this excavator. Just my two cents worth.

That is pretty much the same conclusion that I came to also. I see a lot of photos like that where they are claiming some animal to be of unbelievably huge size but in reality it is just an illusion caused by the cameras focal length or the type of lense used which creates a false perspective.

Nice explanation skepticjohn and welcome to the forum.