World's largest snake at natural history museum
Measuring 48 feet long and weighing in at 2,500 pounds, Titanoboa, the world's largest snake, could crush and devour a crocodile.
Discovered in a fossil bed deep within Colombia's Cerrejón coal mine, this monster predator is the star of the latest special exhibition at the Delaware Museum of Natural History in north Wilmington.
"Titanoboa: Monster Snake," on display from Sept. 27 through Jan. 25, features a full-scale model of the ancient reptile. Fossil plants and animals found at the same site point to the earliest known rainforest dating to the Paleocene, a lost world that followed the demise of the dinosaurs. Along with unearthing fossilized vertebrae of the previously undiscovered species of snake, scientists found remnants of giant turtles and the first-known bean plant.
Organized by the Smithsonian, the traveling exhibition includes two vertebrae casts made from the original fossils: a 17-foot-long modern green anaconda and the vertebra from Titanoboa. Guests can enjoy videos produced by the Smithsonian Channel and a photo exhibit detailing many species of snakes found in Delaware.
In the meantime, here are some fun facts provided by the natural history museum about a snake that's as long as a school bus and as heavy as a Mini Cooper:
• Titanoboa's vertebrae were roughly the size of those found in modern whale species. The flexible spine allowed her to coil and bend in a flexible S-shape to help with swimming.
• At 48 feet long, Titanoboa was twice as long as any snake today. The green anaconda, the world's largest modern snake, is a native of South America east of the Andes Mountains. They can grow to more than 29 feet and weigh over 550 pounds.
• Titanoboa probably ate fish, turtles and crocodiles, and a single large meal might have lasted the snake for a year. For a 48-foot constrictor, killing its prey probably didn't take long – unless she was swallowing and digesting a half-ton of blunt-nosed crocodile.
• The reptile dates from the Paleocene – the 10-million-year epoch following the dinosaurs' demise.
• The massive Cerrejón coal mine in northeastern Colombia, where Titanoboa was discovered, is the size of 8,000 football fields. Also found in the coal mine were the fossils of a new species of 20-foot-long prehistoric crocodile, Acherontisuchus guajiraensis.
Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882 or mfishman@delaware online.com.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Titanoboa: Monster Snake
WHERE: Delaware Museum of Natural History, 4840 Kennett Pike in Wilmington
WHEN: Sept. 27 through Jan. 25. Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4:30 p.m.
TICKETS: $9/adults, $7/children (ages 3-17), $8/seniors, free/ages 2 and younger and all museum members.
INFO:www.delmnh.org or (302) 658-9111