In the photo: Titanoboa model
American scientists have established that a giant boa constrictor lived on Earth millions of years ago. This discovery allows not only to learn more about the past, but, possibly, to look into the future.
About 58 million years ago, a snake of incredible size crawled out of the swampy South American jungle. This creature could terrify anyone.
The reptile weighed over a ton and was 14 meters long. She could swallow a whole crocodile and not choke.
But a few years ago, scientists did not suspect the existence of this fossil animal.
“Even in the wildest dreams it was impossible to imagine that we would find a 14-meter boa constrictor. The largest modern snake is half the size,”says Carlos Jaramillo of the Smithsonian Institute for Tropical Research and one of the authors of the discovery.
The snake, which received the Latin name Titanoboa cerrejonensis (colossal boa from Kerrejon), is called a distant relative of the anaconda and the modern boa constrictor. She was not poisonous, but killed her victims with a huge compressive force: more than 180 kg per 6.4 sq. cm. Approximately the same load would be received by a person who fell under a load weighing one and a half Brooklyn bridges.
The fossils of a giant snake were found during excavations in an open coal mine in the town of Kerrejon, Colombia. In 2002, scientists discovered at this site fossils of the tropical jungle of the Paleocene era - perhaps even the very first such forest on the planet.
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In addition to fossilized plants, many reptiles have been found, the size of which is amazing.
“We have discovered the lost world of giant reptiles: turtles the size of a kitchen table and the largest crocodile fossils in research history,” said Jonathan Bloch, an expert on vertebrate evolution at the University of Florida.
Among the finds was a giant snake.
“After the extinction of the dinosaurs, this animal, Titanoboa, was the largest predator on Earth, and it continued for about 10 million years,” explains Bloch. "It was a very large animal - no matter how you look at it."
In search of fossil skulls
However, in order to get a complete picture of what the prehistoric snake looked like, what it ate and how it relates to the modern animal world, scientists needed to study the remains of a reptile's skull.
“After the dinosaurs became extinct 60 million years ago, it was much hotter at the equator than it is today. We believe that this is why the reptiles have grown to a very large size”(Jonathan Bloch.)
Last year, a special research group was sent to Colombia to search for the Titanoboa skull, which, however, had little hope of success. The fact is that the bones of the snake skull are very fragile, and a very small number of fossil skulls have survived to this day.
“Unlike our skulls, the bones in the snake's skull are not held together. They're tied together by fabric,”says Jason Head, a serpentologist at the University of the American State of Nebraska.
“When an animal dies, the connective tissue decomposes, and individual bones tend to scatter,” continues the scientist. “They are also very thin and fragile and often break down. But because Titanoboa was so big and had very large bones, it is one of the few snakes we know from fossils."
To the amazement of the group, they managed to find the remains of three skulls, with the help of which they were able to completely reconstruct the skull of a giant reptile for the first time.
Thus, it was possible to learn better about how Titanoboa lived and looked like. Now in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in the United States, a life-size dummy snake is on display. In 2013, the exhibit will go on a tour of America.
The discovery of a new species of a huge fossil snake helps scientists not only learn about the ancient animal world, but also gain new information about the history of the earth's climate. This means that the fossils can tell us about the consequences of the current global warming.
Snakes are unable to regulate their temperature and depend on external heat to survive.
“Tropical plants and ecosystems can cope with high temperatures and high levels of carbon dioxide. And this is another serious problem that is associated with the current trend of global warming”(Carlos Jaramillo).
“We think Titanoboa got so big because, after 60 million years ago, the dinosaurs became extinct, it was much hotter at the equator than it is today. We believe that this is why the reptiles have grown to a very large size."
Bloch notes that the ability of animals to survive in conditions of high temperatures may again become relevant if climatologists' predictions of global warming come true.
The ability to thrive in warm climates could play an important role if global temperatures rise as climate scientists predict, Bloch added.
"This is evidence that ecosystems can develop at temperatures that are expected for the next one or two hundred years," he said.
Return of Titanoboa?
However, the climatic changes that gave rise to Titanoboa took millions of years. Scientists are less confident about the effects of sudden temperature changes.
“Biology is surprisingly adaptable. Changes in climate and living conditions on continents are driving evolution. But what happens very quickly can lead to changes that can hardly be assessed positively,”Bloch said.
During the existence of the Kerrejon rainforests, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 50% higher than the current one.
“The Kerrejon fossils taught us an important lesson: we learned that tropical plants and ecosystems can cope with high temperatures and high levels of carbon dioxide. And this is another serious problem with which the current trend of global warming is associated,”says Carlos Jaramillo.
“Plants and animals in the tropics may already have the genetic ability to cope with global warming,” the researcher said.
Does this mean the giant Titanoboa snake could return?
“As the temperature rises, the chances are that they will return,” says Jaramillo. - It takes a geological time of the order of a million years for a new species of animals to appear. But they can come back!"
Based on materials from bbc.co.uk