Press Release
Fla. Museum displays giant snake fossils through March 4
Feb. 19, 2009
Media contact:
Paul Ramey, APR
Assistant Director, Marketing and Public Relations
Florida Museum of Natural History
(352) 273-2054, pramey@flmnh.ufl.edu
Writer: Kelly Donovan
PHOTOS AVAILABLE
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Fossils of the world's largest snake are on public display for the first time at the Florida Museum of Natural History through Wednesday, March 4.
Several vertebrae and ribs belonging to Titanoboa cerrejonensis, a giant snake that slithered through the tropics 60 million years ago, can be viewed along with photos of the coal mine in northern Colombia where the fossils were excavated and an illustration of what the snake may have looked like. For comparison, a complete skeleton of a much smaller but still intimidating 8-foot anaconda is also displayed in the case, available for free public viewing in the Florida Museum central gallery.
Measuring 42-45 feet long and weighing 1.25 tons, the snake was hefty enough to eat giant turtles and primitive crocodile relatives. For 10 million years it was the largest land animal on the planet after the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
Titanoboa was discovered by an international team of researchers led by Florida Museum of Natural History assistant vertebrate paleontology curator Jonathan Bloch and Carlos Jaramillo, a paleobotanist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Florida Museum research assistants Jason Bourque and Alex Hastings also contributed to the study.
The researchers describe the new species in the Feb. 5 edition of the journal Nature, and the story received heavy media coverage worldwide. They date the fossils back to the Paleocene Epoch, the period immediately after the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million to 55 million years ago. The researchers estimated the ancient snake's size by applying the relationship between vertebral size, body length and mass of living snakes to the fossil vertebrae.
The discovery of the giant snake has revised previous estimates that prehistoric snakes were no longer than 40 feet long.
The team unearthed 180 vertebrae and ribs belonging to 28 different individuals of the giant snake and is in the process of cleaning the fossils and making casts.
Plans are underway to create a traveling exhibit about Titanoboa and other huge fossilized species from the ancient tropics of South America.
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The Florida Museum of Natural History is Florida's state natural history museum, dedicated to understanding, preserving and interpreting biological diversity and cultural heritage. It is located near the intersection of Southwest 34th Street and Hull Road in the University of Florida Cultural Plaza in Gainesville. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Butterfly Rainforest admission is $9.50 for adults ($8 Fla. residents) and $5 for children ages 3-12. Prices subject to change. For more information, including directions and parking, call (352) 846-2000, or visit www.flmnh.ufl.edu.