Wish1719 1st Gear February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 Largest snake 'as long as a bus' By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News The snake is thought to have been some 13m (42ft) long Enlarge Image The discovery of fossilised remains belonging to the world's largest snake has been reported in Nature journal. Titanoboa was 13m (42ft) long - about the length of a bus - and lived in the rainforest of north-east Colombia 58-60 million years ago. The snake was so wide it would have reached up to a person's hips, say researchers, who have estimated that it weighed more than a tonne. Green anacondas - the world's heaviest snakes - reach a mere 250kg (550lbs). Snakes had the opportunity to evolve and grow as big as this one did in a way that they probably wouldn't today P David Polly, Indiana University Reticulated pythons - the world's longest snakes - can reach up to 10m (32ft). The team of researchers led by Jason Head, from the University of Toronto at Mississauga, Canada, used a known mathematical relationship between the size of vertebrae and the length of the body in living snakes to estimate the size of the ancient animal. Named Titanoboa cerrejonensis by its discoverers, the beast's 13m-long body and 1,140kg (2,500lb) weight make it the largest snake on record. "At its greatest width, the snake would have come up to about your hips. The size is pretty amazing," said co-author P David Polly, from Indiana University in Bloomington, US. Researchers discovered fossilised bones belonging to the super-sized slitherers and their possible prey at Cerrejon, one of the world's largest open-pit coal mines. The animal is a relative of modern boa constrictors. Warming world "Probably like an anaconda, it spent a lot of time in the water," said Professor Polly. "It would have needed to eat a lot. What its prey was exactly, we don't know. But it probably included alligators, big fish or crocodiles." The researchers also used the reptile's size to make an estimate of Earth's temperature 58 to 60 million years ago in tropical South America. A vertebra from an anaconda (l) is dwarfed by one from Titanoboa ® Palaeontologists have long known that as temperatures go up and down over geological time, generally speaking, so does the upper size limit of cold-blooded creatures - or poikilotherms. This is because the metabolism of a poikilotherm is more or less controlled by the average temperature of its environment. Assuming the Earth today was not particularly unusual, the researchers calculated that a snake of Titanoboa's size would have required an average annual temperature of 30C to 34C (86F to 93F) to survive. By comparison, the average yearly temperature of today's Cartagena, a Colombian coastal city, is about 28C. Opportunity knocks "A snake living in the tropics would have been operating at a much higher metabolic rate," said Professor Polly. "So snakes had the opportunity to evolve and grow as big as this one did in a way that they probably wouldn't today." He added that as the Earth warmed up in future, cold-blooded animals could be expected to evolve larger bodies. Dr Head adds that the find "challenges our understanding of past climates and environments, as well as the biological limitations on the evolution of giant snakes." However, Dr Matthew Huber, a climatologist from Purdue University in Indiana, who was not connected with the study, questioned whether the link between size and temperature was "generalisable and accurate". He commented: "Head and colleagues' findings are the result of probably the first study in 'snake palaeothermometry', and as such must be viewed with caution." [email protected] ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watwheels Supersonic February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 NPNT... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue2 1st Gear February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090205/tts-...ke-c1b2fc3.html heehee...can talk liao... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzrmazda3 6th Gear February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 Largest snake 'as long as a bus' By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News The snake is thought to have been some 13m (42ft) long Enlarge Image The discovery of fossilised remains belonging to the world's largest snake has been reported in Nature journal. Titanoboa was 13m (42ft) long - about the length of a bus - and lived in the rainforest of north-east Colombia 58-60 million years ago. The snake was so wide it would have reached up to a person's hips, say researchers, who have estimated that it weighed more than a tonne. Green anacondas - the world's heaviest snakes - reach a mere 250kg (550lbs). Snakes had the opportunity to evolve and grow as big as this one did in a way that they probably wouldn't today P David Polly, Indiana University Reticulated pythons - the world's longest snakes - can reach up to 10m (32ft). The team of researchers led by Jason Head, from the University of Toronto at Mississauga, Canada, used a known mathematical relationship between the size of vertebrae and the length of the body in living snakes to estimate the size of the ancient animal. Named Titanoboa cerrejonensis by its discoverers, the beast's 13m-long body and 1,140kg (2,500lb) weight make it the largest snake on record. "At its greatest width, the snake would have come up to about your hips. The size is pretty amazing," said co-author P David Polly, from Indiana University in Bloomington, US. Researchers discovered fossilised bones belonging to the super-sized slitherers and their possible prey at Cerrejon, one of the world's largest open-pit coal mines. The animal is a relative of modern boa constrictors. Warming world "Probably like an anaconda, it spent a lot of time in the water," said Professor Polly. "It would have needed to eat a lot. What its prey was exactly, we don't know. But it probably included alligators, big fish or crocodiles." The researchers also used the reptile's size to make an estimate of Earth's temperature 58 to 60 million years ago in tropical South America. A vertebra from an anaconda (l) is dwarfed by one from Titanoboa Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_blade Turbocharged February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 Saw that pc of news the other day. It must be a awesome sight (if you are not the victim). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazdaowner Moderator February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 Brother..... [grouphug] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzrmazda3 6th Gear February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 (edited) Brother..... [grouphug] Lao Da Edited February 5, 2009 by Mzrmazda3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazdaowner Moderator February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 Lao Da BTW, your engrish must collect hor, not longest, BIGGEST. eyh, kopi when? I think next week I visit the you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzrmazda3 6th Gear February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 BTW, your engrish must collect hor, not longest, BIGGEST. eyh, kopi when? I think next week I visit the you. Recently si beh boh eng ... Call/sms me when you are coming ... I try to La Kopi ... Not La Ji with you hoh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sony 1st Gear February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 old snake.. cannot cook already Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watwheels Supersonic February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090205/tts-...ke-c1b2fc3.html heehee...can talk liao... Boring...painted picture no count. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazdaowner Moderator February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 Recently si beh boh eng ... Call/sms me when you are coming ... I try to La Kopi ... Not La Ji with you hoh Your orpiece got calendar boh? gimme two, those one by one peel off one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altivo 3rd Gear February 5, 2009 Share February 5, 2009 oh... it's a fossilised snake... i tot was a live one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wish1719 1st Gear February 5, 2009 Author Share February 5, 2009 Boring...painted picture no count. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7868588.stm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzrmazda3 6th Gear February 6, 2009 Share February 6, 2009 Your orpiece got calendar boh? gimme two, those one by one peel off one. Bro, Ta Ade ... Paiseh ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wish1719 1st Gear February 6, 2009 Author Share February 6, 2009 Your orpiece got calendar boh? gimme two, those one by one peel off one. knn....simi si tai liao still looking for peeling ones.... go peel your own one lah.... i got Manchester United table calendar, you want a not?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazdaowner Moderator February 6, 2009 Share February 6, 2009 Bro, Ta Ade ... Paiseh ... ok nevermind brother, we still can go kopi I ask Blue2 to join us ai mai? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxus-MIFA9 Supersonic February 6, 2009 Share February 6, 2009 The longest SNAKE in SGP is us ... Understand you........ "Eat Snake" - chia chua ....... ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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