The world’s largest snake appears in Manhattan
Titanoboa, the largest snake that ever lived, has arrived in New York.
Thankfully this titanoboa is not living, but it is life-sized. A life-sized model of the titanoboa has moved in to Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal. The 48-foot, 2,500-pound replica is about the size of a school bus.
The titanoboa is thought to have lived alongside the dinosaurs, and its remains were discovered in a Columbian coal mine in 2005. The model is based on the fossilized vertebrae discovered in the coal mines.
The replica of the titanoboa has been displayed as a way of promoting a new exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in D.C. opening March, which ties into a TV special on the Smithsonian Channel called Titanoboa: Monster Snake.
The titanoboa is related to a boa constrictor, but behaved like an anaconda. It lived in the water and fed on fish, other titanoboas, and very large prehistoric crocodiles. But don’t compare it to the predator in the movie Anaconda.
That monster wasn’t as big as the titanoboa.
If this monster slithered by you, it would be waist high. This starkly contrasts the belief researchers held for many years that the 20-foot python was the largest snake ever to slither the earth. But the titanoboa, at twice that length and weighing more than a ton, puts the python to shame.
If Michael Crichton knew about the titanoboa when he wrote Jurassic Park, the landscape could have been quite a bit different. This monster has been called the T-Rex of snakes.
Thankfully, we’ll never have to worry about running into a living titanoboa… that is, unless Michael Crighton’s visions of Jurassic Park ever come to life.
