However, the image was not of any snake fossil but a gigantic art installation.
If you've been on social media in the last few days, you've probably seen a video that purports to show the world's largest snake. A Twitter user recently uploaded the footage on the microblogging platform. A long snake skeleton is seen on the beach in the footage. According to the video, Google Maps discovered a massive snake skeleton off the coast of France.
The post brought the internet to a halt, and why not! The tweet also gave rise to speculation about Titanoboa, the largest snake species known to humans. However, the image was not of any snake fossil but a gigantic art installation.
Nevertheless, thanks to the post, there is suddenly a renewed interest in Titanoboa, the pre-historic species of snake.
According to the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, “This 2,500-pound, 48-foot-long prehistoric snake was found near fossilised plants, giant turtles and crocodiles dating back to the Paleocene epoch, more than 60 million years ago when the world's first known rainforest existed, and dinosaurs no longer ruled the Earth.”
The institute also states that the snake emerged “from a fossil bed deep within Colombia's Cerrejon coal mine.” It adds that this is the “largest snake ever found”.
“At 48 feet, this mega snake was longer than a school bus and was at the top of the monster-eat-monster food chain,” adds the report.
Terming it as a “beast”, the institute adds that the snake was “able to crush and devour massive prehistoric crocodiles”.
In 2012, the institute had even made a documentary on Titanoboa snakes titled “Titanoboa: Monster Snake”. The documentary premiered at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 2012.