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Titanoboa cerrejonensis
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Species |
Titanoboa cerrejonensis |
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Titanoboa cerrejonensis was a species of
giant snake that lived during in the Paleocene epoch
of the Paleogene period, between about 60 and 58 million years ago.
Fossils of the snake
have been found in coal mines in the Cerrejón region of
Colombia - at the time that the snake
was alive, this was a region of tropical rainforests.
The largest species of snakes currently known to science is
Python reticulatus in which adults grow up to 32 feet (10 meters) long.
Titanboa is estimated however to grown up to 43 feet (13 meters) long, had
a diameter of over 3 feet (1 meter), and weighed more than 1 ton.
Titanoboa was non-venomous and is believed to be related to the modern
family of Boas (which are today found in Central and South America, Africa,
and Asia), including the Boa constrictor.
Titanoboa would probably have been an ambush predator,
laying in wait, and then suddenly springing into
action when prey approached.
Like its modern relatives, Titanoboa
would have killed its prey using constriction
(tightening itself around them until they suffocated)
- however while its living relatives
mostly eat small mammals, birds and reptiles, Titanoboa probably would have
eaten crocodiles and large turtles.
Titanoboa was only discovered in 2009,
by an expedition led by
Jonathan Bloch and Carlos Jaramillo, and its discovery was announced to the world by a paper published in
Nature in February
2009.
The name "Titanoboa" means "Titan [i.e. large] boa", and "cerrejonensis" is of course
derived from the region in which the snake was found.
Titanoboa cerrejonensis Timeline:
Titanoboa was a giant snake that lived between 60 and 58 million years ago
Related Information & Resources
See Also
Titanoboa Books
Here are some books from Amazon.com:
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By Editors of Time Magazine
Time
Hardcover (144 pages)
 | List Price: $29.95*
Lowest New Price: $12.94*
Lowest Used Price: $3.86*
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*(As of 21:19 Pacific 20 May 2012 More Info)
Click Here | Product Description:
Here is a book designed to inspire the heart, challenge the mind, delight the eye, engage the armchair traveler and, yes, encourage your bootheels to be wanderin'. The editors of Time have sought out the most exciting new discoveries in the fields of geography, paleontology, astronomy and archaeology and combined them with classic tales of exploration to present a book that is vast in scope and pulsing with the energy of fresh knowledge. It includes the latest updates on the fascinating fossilized dinosaur-birds of China; reports of revelatory recent digs in Egypt; and an overview of new findings from the swarm of craft now investigating Mars, Jupiter and the moons of Saturn. The book's journey takes us from Siberia's Yamal Peninsula, where the 40,000-year-old carcass of the baby mammoth Lyuba emerged from the permafrost, to a mysterious cave on Indonesia's island of Flores, where an unusual species of miniature early humans, dubbed "the hobbits," once lived. The cast of striking characters includes the brilliant Chinese paleontologist Xing Xu, Egypt's famed tomb-raider Zahi Hawass-and nasa's plucky Martian rovers, Opportunity and Spirit. Readers will be surprised to learn how much new information has emerged in recent years about subjects we thought we knew well, from the wreck of the Titanic to the mysteries of the Pueblo cliff-dwellers of the American Southwest. In addition to its probing, wide-ranging account of great discoveries past and present, the book offers a host of arresting photographs that create a spectacular visual panorama of Planet Earth's most powerful forces and most exotic regions. Welcome aboard-and bon voyage! |
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By Jill C. Jones
Jill C. Jones
Paperback (96 pages)
 | List Price: $9.99*
Lowest New Price: $9.99*
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*(As of 21:19 Pacific 20 May 2012 More Info)
Click Here | Product Description:
Book of 13 short horror stories |
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