Posils discovered in recent years

Giant ancient snake fossil discovered by scientists in India. This giant snake is known to have lived around 47-50 million years ago. So how big is the snake fossil?
This fossil was discovered by scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in the Panandhro Lignite Mine area in Kutch, West India. This giant snake fossil is in the form of a spinal column.

According to scientists, the fossil is a giant madtsoiid snake that lived in the early-middle Eocene, around 47-50 million years ago. "We report the discovery of a giant madtsoiid snake, one of the largest snakes ever reported, from the warm Middle Eocene time period (about 47 million years ago) in India," the scientists wrote in a new paper published in Scientific Reports, quoted from Forbes . Estimated Snake Nearly 15 Meters
Researchers estimate that the body length of ancient snakes is estimated to have reached 11-15 meters. This snake lives when the temperature in India is quite warm. "The estimated body length of 11-15 meters makes this new taxon (Vasuki indicus) the largest known madtsoiid snake, which thrived during warm geological intervals with an estimated average temperature of 28°C," the researchers said.

Researchers believe that Vasuki indicus is the largest known snake in the extinct madtsoiid family. Based on analysis of the shape of its spine, researchers say that the snake probably does not live in water, but it also does not live in trees. "Corroborating evidence comes from the depositional environment of the Vasuki producing horizon, which is reconstructed as a backwater swamp, similar to the habitat of modern large pythons," the researchers explained.

Similar to Anaconda
Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of snakes that lived from the Cretaceous to the Cenozoic era. These snakes were typically large, with some species reaching several meters in length, and likely served as constrictors like modern boas and pythons. Madtsoiid snake fossils have been found on various continents. This shows that this madtsoiid snake has a wide geographical distribution.

Regarding this newly discovered fossil, Vasuki indicus is a slow-moving predator. These snakes ambushed by subduing their prey through constriction, similar to today's anacondas and large pythons. However, whether this is the largest snake fossil ever found is still a matter of debate. Vasuki indicus' only real rival is the 60 million year old remains of Titanoboa (Titanoboa cerrejonensis). The Titanoboa fossil was discovered in northeastern Colombia and documented in a 2009 paper published in Nature. "It is worth noting that the estimated largest body length of Vasuki appears to exceed that of Titanoboa, although the spine dimensions of the Indian taxon are slightly smaller than those of Titanoboa. We acknowledge that this observation may be a reflection of the different data sets used to formulate the predictive equations," the researchers said.