Titanoboa
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Name: Titanoboa
(Titan boa).
Phonetic: Ty-tan-o-bo-ah.
Named By: Head - 2009.
Classification: Chordata, Reptila, Squamata,
Serpentes, Boidae, Boinae.
Species: T. cerrejonensis (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Between 12.8 and 14.8 meters long. Up
to 1 meter wide at the thickest part of the body.
Known locations: Colombia - Cerrej�n Formation.
Time period: Selandian of the Palaeocene.
Fossil representation: Remains of 28 individuals.
How big was Titanoboa
and why did
it grow so large?
When
initially described in 2009, Titanoboa was
estimated to have been
about 12.8 meters long. This meant that in at least terms of
length, Titanoboa was larger than the previous
record holder for
largest ever snake,
Gigantophis,
by a comfortable margin. Later
modelling shown as part of the Smithsonian documentary Titanoboa:
Monster Snake suggested a total length of about 14.6 meters, a
figure that has since been commonly rounded off to 15 meters by
others.
Reptiles
are commonly thought to grow in accordance with the available ambient
temperature of a climate. This is because higher temperatures that
remain fairly constant throughout the year with very little seasonal
variation allow ectothermic (cold blooded) animals to maintain an
optimum metabolism for longer. This means that bodily functions such
as digestion, circulation and respiration among others all become
far more efficient, and a greater amount of energy can be set aside
for other areas such as growth.
In
reference to the larger size of Titanoboa, this
could indicate that
sixty million years ago global temperatures, specifically at the
equator but quite possibly further away, were considerably higher
than those we know today. This is because today the largest known
snakes which live close to the equator can commonly attain sizes of
five to six meters in length, with rarer individuals approaching six
and a half to seven meters long.
Go to pages --> Gigantophis, Titanoboa, Wonambi, Yurlunggur
Titanoboa.
is usually credited as being around thirteen to fifteen meters long,
though it must be appreciated that as a genus, very little fossil
remains of Titanoboa are known to us at the time of
writing. It is
not inconceivable that Titanoboa may have still
grown even larger,
but caution should be exercised in this as reconstructions should
always be based upon existing fossil material. In comparison to
modern snakes that are alive today, the largest snake by body weight
is the Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus),
which is credited as
attaining a length of just over six and a half meters long. The
largest snake by body length however is the Reticulated Python
(Python reticulatus) with is credited as
approaching seven meters
long for the largest individuals.
On
an additional note about the Green Anaconda and Reticulated Python,
both snakes are commonly cited as being larger than these figures,
but by how much can vary greatly by source, with ten different
sources giving you ten different estimates. There have also been many
eye witness claims, especially dating back to the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries of far larger anacondas and pythons that would
have been bigger than Titanoboa. There is however
no proof of these
monster snakes, and even many more modern estimates have since been
proven to be invalid. A problem is that most large snakes reported to
science are usually dead, and when being preserved snake skin can
stretch by a surprising degree, with the skin from a five meter long
snake feasibly being capable of being stretched out to seven and a half
meters, giving the false impression to later viewers that a snake was
half as big again than it actually was. This is why only measurements
of live snakes taken by those who are experienced in handling and
measuring snakes are paid any attention by the scientific community.
Before
moving on to the next segment, a special consideration regarding size
in Titanoboa is gender. There is an observable
pattern amongst snakes
in that females usually grow larger than males. Although remains of
Titanoboa are still too few to conclusively
illustrate a difference
between male and female Titanoboa, it would
actually be unusual if
female Titanoboa were not larger than males.
When and where did Titanoboa
live?
Titanoboa
fossils are so far only known from the Cerrej�n Formation of Colombia
in South America. The Cerrej�n Formation represents what is at the
time of writing the earliest known occurrence of Neotropical
rainforests (rainforests of Central and South America). The area
of the Cerrej�n Formation that the Titanoboa
holotype fossils are known
from has been established as going back to the Selandian of the
Paleocene. This means that Titanoboa are known to
have lived about
sixty million years ago (give or a take a million years), and
approximately five million years after the KT extinction which marks
the end of the Mesozoic and the disappearance of the dinosaurs.
During this time, Titanoboa would have lived and
hunted in low lying
rainforests that contained an extensive system of rivers that
criss-crossed over the landscape.
How did Titanoboa
kill?
Snakes
are usually what you would term generalists that will eat whatever they
can catch. This is especially true for constrictors that do not rely
upon venom to subdue prey, and therefore have no reliance upon venom
working which may have different effects upon different types of
animals. By constricting however, the method of killing is
asphyxiation from the prey having its lungs squeezed by the muscular
coils of a snake so that the lungs cannot expand to take in fresh
oxygenated air.
Whereas
constrictors do not have fangs for injecting venom, they still have
rows of teeth that grow in rows within the upper and lower jaws.
These teeth are usually very thin but pointed sharp like needles,
and are adapted for puncturing soft tissues and holding prey in
place. A specific adaptation to this purpose is that these teeth are
usually strongly recurved. What this means is that the teeth bend
like curved hooks so that the points of the teeth actually project to
the rear of the mouth and the opening of the throat. Because of the
shape, when these teeth hook into the flesh of a prey animal, there
is no way for that animal to pull itself free. For example, if a
constrictor like an anaconda or a python ever latched on to something
like your hand, the worst thing that you could do is to immediately
try to pull it out because you would only drive the snakes teeth deeper
into your own flesh. What you would instead have to do is to first
push your hand deeper into the snake’s mouth, and then open the jaws
before you were able to pull your hand free.
Though
only partial skull and jaw bones have been found, Titanoboa
would
still be expected to have had rows of recurved teeth within the mouth.
In the first instance the teeth would have been used to dig into the
flesh of a prey animal. This in turn would enable the head to gain a
secure hold onto the prey so that no matter how hard the prey
struggled, there was no way for the prey to pull itself free by brute
force. With a hold secure, the Titanoboa could
then coil its
immense body around the body of the prey and then just squeeze. With
a body made mostly of muscle, even a moderately sized Titanoboa
would
have been capable of inflicting severe pressures against the body
and most importantly the lungs of its prey with very little effort on
its own part.
Making
an actual kill could actually have only taken a matter of minutes for a
Titanoboa, but the actual eating of the prey would
have been
considerably longer. The known skull and jaw remains of Titanoboa
show that it would have had a similar head construction to other
constrictor snakes like anacondas. This means that the lower jaws
would have extended past the back of the skull to allow for an even
greater range of movement for opening the mouth. In addition to that
the lower jaws would have not only been unfused at the front, they
were also capable of independent movement to one another. This means
not only could the lower jaws come apart for an even greater opening,
but the snake could have moved up one jaw, then the other, in
a fashion that would allow the mouth to ‘walk’ over the body of its
prey. Again the recurved teeth would have been of benefit again,
because one side could anchor the head in position while the other
part moved along, and vice-versa.
Once
the body of the prey was within the stomach of the Titanoboa,
stomach
acids would have dissolved all parts of the animal from soft flesh,
to hard bone. How long it takes to digest an animal will of course
depend upon the size of the prey, with bigger animals that have more
mass taken longer (there’s just more to dissolve). Metabolism is
also a factor, and the closer a snake comes to its; optimum
temperature, the more efficient the digestion process.
In
terms of actual hunting behaviour, the sheer size of a large
Titanoboa would mean that it would have been
incapable of moving
through the tree canopy like many smaller forms, and so Titanoboa
probably spent their time slithering around trees than trying to climb
them. The large size of a Titanoboa body,
particularly the
associated weight, would also mean that a Titanoboa
would have been
physically cumbersome when moving over the land. However, when
lurking within the undergrowth, a Titanoboa
would have still been
capable of initiating a lightning fast ambush strike at a passing
prey animal while hidden within the undergrowth.
Titanoboa
would have been at their most dangerous when in the water. When in
the water, body weight means very little since the buoyancy of the
water would counteract the effects of gravity upon the body (this is
exactly why marine animals like whales grow so big). This would
mean that even a large Titanoboa would have been
very quick when moving
through the water as well as expending comparatively little energy to
do so than what it would have had to do if on land. Another advantage
of hunting in the water is that the sheer bulk of the body of Titanoboa
would have been hidden by the water. When striking animals that were
on or near the surface, the surface sheen of the water would have
hidden any approach from a Titanoboa submerged
under the surface,
while the Titanoboa would have been able to lock
on to the silhouette
of its targeted prey. In addition Titanoboa would
have been capable
of lurking upon the bottom of water system and holding its breath for a
considerable time, waiting for other animals swimming through the
water which it could then strike at from below.
What did Titanoboa
eat?
As
stated above, snakes tend to be generalists, even those species
which may display a preference for certain types of animals through
specific patterns of hunting behaviour, will attempt strikes on other
animals if they think they have an opportunity for a meal. In
determining what Titanoboa ate, we have to look
to the other known
fauna of the Cerrej�n Formation. Some animals that immediately stand
out are crocodiles,
specifically the genera Cerrejonisuchus,
Acherontisuchus
and Anthracosuchus.
Although crocodiles are fearsome
predators in their own right, it is a known scientific fact that they
can become prey to large snakes that will think nothing of attacking
and consuming them. This behaviour has been independently witnessed,
photographed and videod in modern snakes like anacondas, and by
extension it seems perfectly plausible that a snake such as Titanoboa,
known to be much bigger than modern snakes, could have been
attacking and eating crocodiles, some of which were comparable in
size to modern forms.
Prehistoric
crocodiles and giant snakes were not the only reptiles present in the
Cerrej�n Formation, large freshwater turtles much bigger than those
we know today were also living there during the Paleocene. These
genera include Carbonemys
and Puentemys,
and both of these turtles
are known to have grown so large that it is perhaps highly unlikely
that even a Titanoboa could have swallowed them
whole. This might in
fact be part of the reason why these turtles grew such large shells in
the first place, with them being so big, they may have effectively
taken themselves off the menu. It could be argued that a large
Titanoboa could have crushed a turtle shell within
its coils and broken
it up, but this would have taken substantially more effort than just
squeezing air out of the lungs, and while snakes are capable of
digesting bone and shell, it takes far longer to digest than more
‘fleshy’ prey such as crocodiles. Therefore while it might have
been possible for Titanoboa to hunt turtles,
particularly smaller
juveniles, they may have had a preference towards ‘easier’ prey.
A
third prospect for Titanoboa prey that still takes
people by surprise
is large fish. Fish are known to be eaten by snakes, including
constrictors like anacondas, and the remains of particularly large
lungfish that may have grown to as much as three meters long are known
from the Cerrej�n Formation. A Titanoboa would
have certainly been
capable of striking at a large fish, but killing a lungfish may have
been a little more problematic. As long as water passes over the
gills you can’t drown a fish like you could a crocodile, and you
can’t suffocate a lungfish just by removing it from the water. What
makes a lungfish a lungfish is its ability to breath out of water. A
Titanoboa could have still killed a lungfish by
constriction, such as
by closing gill openings under the water, or dragging the lungfish
out of the water and then squeezing, but if Titanoboa
also ate these
large lungfish, then they may have begun swallowing the fish while
still alive, and then relied upon that process to asphyxiate the
fish. A Titanoboa may have been able to hold onto
a lungfish for some
time as long as the glottis, the opening in the lower mouth was not
obstructed so that the Titanoboa itself could still
breathe.
Another
subject to cover is of course cannibalism. Snakes in the wild are
known to eat other snakes, including those of their own species if
they spot an individual that is particularly smaller than themselves.
If Titanoboa were like other constrictors, then
females would have
been substantially larger than males, so much so that a male would
have been an easy meal for a large female. Female upon male predation
has been recorded in modern anacondas.
The
above is speculation based upon the known fauna of the Cerrej�n
Formation. It is quite probable that other types of animals such as
birds and mammals were also present in the same environment and that we
simply have not found any fossils for these yet. It is worth noting
that not every animal gets fossilised, and in the case of the
Cerrej�n Formation being a working coal mine, it is almost certain
that an uncountable number of fossils unknown to us have already been
destroyed.
Why did Titanoboa
go extinct?
In
simple terms no one knows for sure, but there are two main theories.
The first is global temperature change. Today we can establish a
clear correlation between reptile size and ambient climate
temperature. The hotter the climate the larger reptiles seem to get.
Those in temperate locations and/or with a strong seasonal variance
between hot and cold seem to stay fairly small. However as you get
nearer the equator, average temperatures rise and seasonal variation
is near non-existent due to the simple fact that daylight exposure to
the sun is at a constant. By contrast extreme north or south
latitudes experience extended or reduced daylight hours depending upon
how the Earth tilts on its rotation as it orbits the sun on its yearly
cycle.
Because
temperatures nearer the equator are more constant, it is easier for
reptiles to exploit that ambient temperature. The ambient temperature
is also near optimum for reptiles, so that their metabolism is
operating as it should, something which many researchers believe
allows reptiles living closer to the equator to attain large sizes
because they do not have to be concerned with a high variance in local
temperatures. Titanoboa being so large has been
taken as an
indication that the planet had a higher average global temperature
during the Paleocene than previously thought. It is also thought
however that average global temperatures were very slowly declining
something that is thought to have contributed towards a global shift
from dense forests to open grasslands during later epochs going on
towards the Miocene.
One
idea is that Titanoboa may eventually have not been
able to maintain
their metabolisms due to falling temperatures in their ecosystems,
something which may have seen them replaced by smaller snakes that
could still operate optimally in the lower temperatures. Other giant
snakes such as Madstoia
and Gigantophis in other parts of the world are
known to have been around until the mid-Eocene period roughly some
twenty million years after the disappearance of Titanoboa.
The
presence of these snakes later in the fossil record proves that giant
snakes did not vanish overnight, yet since the fossil evidence at the
time of writing indicates that these snakes were smaller than
Titanoboa, then they may actually support the
theory of steadily
declining global temperatures driving a shift into the dominance of
smaller snake forms.
The
other theory that explains the extinction of Titanoboa
is of course
habitat change. Around sixty million years ago the Cerrej�n Formation
was low lying coastal plain, covered with lush rainforests that had
an extensive system of numerous rivers running across the landscape.
In stark contrast to this ancient depiction, the Cerrej�n Formation
is today (at the time of writing) the largest coal mine in
Colombia, and is situated much higher above sea level than it was
during the Paleocene.
The
coal of the Cerrej�n Formation is essentially the fossils remains of
all the plants and trees that once formed the lush rainforests that
would have been present in the time of Titanoboa.
This has preserved
numerous fossils of plants, as well as many animals, but it also
proves that the specific habitat that Titanoboa
lived in is now gone.
However, it is of course plausible that Titanoboa
may have had a
wider geographic and temporal distribution than what we know about,
we just don’t know about the fossils yet.
Suggested viewing
- Titanoboa: Monster Snake - Smithsonian - 2012.
Further reading
- Giant boid snake from the Palaeocene neotropics reveals hotter past
equatorial temperatures. - Nature 457 (7230): 715–717.
- J. J. Head, J. I. Bloch, A. K. Hastings, J.
R. Bouorque, E. A. Cadena, F. A. Herrera, P. D.
Polly & C. A. Jaramillo - 2009.
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