India i Scientists Ancient New Giants The snake discovered the remains of about 47 million years ago. The snake was over 15 meters (50 feet) long, making it one of the largest snake species ever discovered.
The snake is named ‘Vasuki Indi Kiss’ after the legendary snake wrapped around the neck of the Hindu god Shiva.
The remains of the snake, found in a coal mine in the western state of Gujarat, belong to the Middle Eocene period (3.39 to 5.6 million years ago), about 47 million years ago.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee in the state of Uttarakhand examined the remains of 27 ‘mostly well-preserved’ spinal cord fragments from what appeared to be fully mature snakes.
The length of the spine of a snake is between 37.5 and 62.7 mm and the width is between 62 and 111 mm.
Scientists estimate that the snake was probably 11 to 15 meters long, or about the length of a large school bus. It was comparable in size to the once-extinct species of snake known as ‘Titino boa’, which is known as the longest snake.
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These measurements also show that the snake was wide and cylindrical. It likely crawled slowly and may have been an ambush predator like the modern-day anaconda.
But based on the characteristics of the snake’s remains, researchers suspect that V. index, unlike anacondas, did not live in water.
However, he says the possibility of an aquatic lifestyle for this giant Indian snake ‘cannot be completely ruled out.’
The researchers added that ‘Vasuki’s large size and the fact that tree snakes have long spines make it unlikely to survive in trees.’
V. indicus belongs to the family Medsoidae, which lived for about 10 million years from the end of the Cretaceous period (the age of the dinosaurs) to the late Pleistocene period and was found in a wide geographical area that included Africa, Europe and India. are
The researchers say that this new species of snake represents a lineage of large snakes that originated in the Indian subcontinent and spread to Africa via southern Europe about 56 million to 34 million years ago.
The scientists have written in their research that ‘biological and geographical aspects are seen in the light of the relationship between India and other snakes of the Medsidae family of North Africa, it is found that Vasuki is related to the family which originated in India. is.’
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2024-08-26 06:34:18
