Source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TopStories (y'a des photos intéressantes qui vous donnent une idée de la bête lol)

Scientists find remains of world's largest snakes
Updated Wed. Feb. 4 2009 11:57 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The skeletal remains of the world's biggest snakes have been discovered near the equator and scientists say the finding will shed new light on how ecosystems respond to climate change.

The remains of 28 individual snakes were found in northeastern Colombia. The largest eight of the 28 snakes would have weighed about 2,500 pounds and were between 12 to 15 metres in length -- longer than a city bus.

In comparison, the largest snakes alive today are the green anacondas, which measure about 7.5 metres long and the reticulated pythons, which measure about nine metres long.

Paleontologists have named the snake Titanoboa cerrejonensis, which means titanic boa from Cerrejon -- one of the world's largest open-pit coal mines.

University of Toronto Mississauga paleontologist Jason Head, part of an international team that analyzed the remains, described the creatures as large, aquatic boid snakes.

"It lived most of its life in the water and probably fed primarily on primitive crocodiles," Head told CTV.ca in an interview.

He said the snakes are estimated to have lived 58 to 60 million years ago.

In total, scientists discovered 180 vertebrae and ribs that represent the 28 individual snakes. Of the 28 snakes, scientists found one or two vertebrae for some and 50 to 60 for others.

"A single snake will have 300 vertebrae," Head said.

The first discovery was made back in 2007 and since then scientists have made several expeditions back to Colombia.

"It's very hot and humid, and the coal seams are very thick and you put all that together and the coal itself spontaneously combusts. There's fire coming out of the coal seams and it smells very sulphuric," Jonathan Bloch, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Florida, told The Canadian Press of the dig.

"It's hell from the perspective of anyone walking into the mine. But from a vertebrate paleontology perspective, of course, it's complete heaven."

Head first saw the size of the fossil during a videoconference chat with Bloch.

"I jumped up out of my seat," Head said.

Bloch and Head were able to use the discovery to create a picture of what the equatorial climate was like when the snakes were alive.

"We basically were able to use the relationship between body size, metabolism and ambient temperature in modern snakes to calculate the path temperature of the equator 58 to 60 million years ago," Head said.

"What it shows is that equatorial temperatures back then are considerably warmer than they are today."

He said researchers expect that it might mean that "as we continue to heat up the planet by introducing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere the equator will heat up."

The findings are in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

C'est impressionnant. Surtout la comparaison avec une vertèbre d'anaconda

C'est loin de mon corn snake sa !

gros comme un bus qu'il dise vraiment impressionnant, merci pour le lien

alors sa ce n'est pas un serpent que j'aimerais rencontrer dans la foret LOL. Une chance qu'il n'en a plus car je crois qu'il y aurais beaucoup plus de personne qui n'aimerais pas les serpents lol.
merci pour le lien
pat

Très intéressant, merci pour le lien.