15, 2014 and features a replica of the biggest snake that ever lived. The Smithsonian's Titanoboa was unveiled in New York’s Grand Central Station in 2012 and showed the massive snake wolfing down a crocodylian.Titanoboa: Monster Snake opens Feb. Longer than Tyrannosaurus rex, Titanoboa cerrejonensis is the biggest snake in the world known to science, living or extinct. Theoretically, it might've tipped the scales at 1.25 tons (1.13 metric tons). Scientists estimate that the Paleocene predator stretched 42 to 47 feet (12.8 to 14.3 meters) in total length. Regardless, neither serpent could hold a candle to Titanoboa. But the retic has a sleeker frame experts don't think it can rival the anaconda's maximum weight.
Over in Asia, the unrelated reticulated python - or "retic" - can exceed this figure, stretching up to 28 feet (8.5 meters) long in some cases. And it's plenty long, too: The biggest reliably measured specimen was 27.2 feet (8.3 meters) in length. Capable of weighing 440 pounds (200 kilograms), this South American serpent is the heaviest modern snake.
Titanoboa also invites comparisons to a much larger boid: The green anaconda. Movie buffs who've seen " A Clockwork Orange" will probably recognize said reptile. Of all the boids alive today, Titanoboa's closest relative might be the red-tailed boa, a denizen of Central and South America that can grow up to 13.2 feet (or 4 meters) long. Being nonvenomous, they tend to kill by constriction. It makes sense geographically: Boids are a family of snakes usually found in the Americas. Scientists break the Cenozoic down into subdivisions called "epochs." And the first of these - the Paleocene - saw the rise of Titanoboa cerrejonensis, a colossal snake that would make modern pythons and anacondas look like spaghetti noodles. Although mammals diversified like crazy in the Cenozoic, Earth wasn't done with giant reptiles yet. It also marked the dawn of our current geologic era: the Cenozoic, or the "Age of Mammals."īut don't let the nickname fool you. Indeed, this was one of the greatest mass extinction events of all time. rex died, other reptilian lineages - from the winged pterosaurs to huge, aquatic relatives of today's monitor lizards - simultaneously kicked the bucket.
The extinction of the dinosaurs ( birds notwithstanding) 65.5 million years ago didn't happen in a vacuum. This display was part of the Museum of Natural History's exhibition in Washington, D.C., in 2013. The Smithsonian created a full-scale, scientifically accurate replica of Titanoboa, the biggest snake to have ever roamed Earth, as part of a traveling exhibit.
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