But it really does seem that tropical plants and the entire tropical ecosystem have an uncanny ability to cope with high temperatures, and high levels of carbon as well. It sounds extraordinary to us that life can even survive at such extremes. In Titanoboa’s time, the levels of CO2 present in the atmosphere were 50% higher than today. Often wholesale changes, both in climate and the environment can fuel the fires of evolution. One thing that is known though, is that life is amazingly adaptable. Of course, the chances of Titanoboa itself returning are nil, but could one of its modern relatives ever stride down the same evolutionary path? Admittedly scientists are less certain about the effects of sudden temperature change, such as the one that’s occurred over the last century and a half. Titanoboa: Monster Snake | Smithsonian ChannelĪ link to the Smithsonians documentary on Titanoboa.Titanoboa comes back to life! Smithsonian recreates world's biggest snake - a 48-foot monster whichĪ terrifying 48-foot, 2,500 foot predator that slithered through rainforests 60 million years ago has been brought back to life by the Smithsonian.It could well be, that reptiles prove to be the ultimate winners in a world artificially warmed by the activities of humanity.
![largest anaconda ever largest anaconda ever](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/17E23/production/_89172879_snake5.jpg)
This ability to thrive in warmer climates could be of great relevance to our present situation, and serve as proof that life is more resilient than we think. The scientists theorise that Titanoboa managed to attain its enormous size because it was much warmer in the equatorial regions 60 million years ago, it may also explain the evolution of giant turtles and crocodiles. How did they do this? Well, snakes being reptiles are unable to regulate their own body temperature and have to rely on external heat sources to survive. They also learnt, that just like modern snakes, the females were much larger than the male, and were also able to gain valuable insights into Earth’s climate at the time, and perhaps give us a tantalising glimpse into the possible side effects of our present global warming episode. Not only did the scientists find a skull, they actually found three, enabling them to accurately reconstruct the giant for the first time. Due to their extraordinary skull design, when a snake normally dies, all of the connective tissue decomposes, as do all of the individual bones, but Titanoboa’s enormous proportions mean that it’s one of the few members of its family to actually make it into the fossil record. If an animal with a fused skull like ours attempted such a thing, then the result would be a broken jaw. The reason is that, unlike our own, snake skulls are connected with tissue, rather than fused together like ours, this explains why they can open their jaws extremely wide. Expectations though, weren’t particularly high, as snake skulls normally do not preserve very well.
![largest anaconda ever largest anaconda ever](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c83FdACTODw/VlZtVJ7gVII/AAAAAAAAAEk/KU2ux65zx-Q/s1600/snake1.jpg)
So, off they went back to South America to find the elusive missing piece. While the scientists were conscious of Titanoboa’s enormity, they needed to uncover a skull in order to get a fuller picture.