Titanoboa cerrejonensis

[hibernours]

(12-07-2019, 07:27 PM)Hello Wrote:

(11-24-2018, 02:55 AM)epaiva Wrote: Huge powerful snake preyed on Crocodiles Turtles and Fishes

*This image is copyright of its original author

Even any prehistoric felid or ursid given a chance.

Well, just a few things here:

1. The images depicted here are just pictures and some of them are probably exagerrating the size of this snake, showing us a snake much larger than the official estimate which is between 730 and 1135kg, the size of a very large bear, this is the first point.

2. I don't contest the mass attributed to this snake, i agree with a body mass around 1 ton, but think carefully: a snake of this size would have trouble moving quickly on land so maybe we can consider that this snake was more aquatic, what do you think about this hypothesis?

3. To respond to the hypothetical fight between this snake and some prehistoric mammal carnivores (big cats and bears): this snake probably couldn't have caught a big cat or a bear because these animals move faster on land than this snake. Then, the skull of this snake is only 40 cm in length, so this skull is smaller than the skull of giant bears and even smaller than those of giant cats. If a big cat or a bear catch the head of the snake, it is over. If this snake was aquatic, it probably would have been able to kill a big cat or a bear in water (pure fiction of course), but on land it has no chance.

4. Some documentaries present this snake as being able to kill a Tyrannosaurus (which never met Titanoboa to my knowledge). What a joke! A tyrannosaur was at least 5 or 6 times heavier... Of course this snake was probably able to exert a tremendous force to crush prey but in order to do that it needs to wrap the body of the other animal and... good luck to wrap an adult tyrannosaur... The tyrannosaur would probably cut the snake in half.

Now i have a question about this snake: what was the largest prey that it could swallow in order to feed itself? And don't tell me that it could swallow a one ton crocodile, I will find it hard to believe you. Reply