Saturday, February 07, 2009

The Frightningly Awesome Past

How's this (taken from the news.com.au website):
'STUNNED scientists have found the fossilised remains of the world's greatest snake - a record-busting serpent that was as long as a bus and snacked on crocodiles.

The boa-like behemoth ruled the tropical rainforests of what is now Colombia some 60 million years ago, at a time when the world was far hotter than now, they report in a study released today.

The size of the snake's vertebrae suggest the beast weighed some 1.135 tonnes, in a range of 730kg to 2.03 tonnes.

And it measured 13 metres (42ft) from nose to tail, in a range of 10.64-15 metres, they estimate.'

They had an artist's rendition too:



This thing, at its greatest width, would've come up to your hips.

...and you wonder why I get excited about geology. Yeah I'm a geek but it's also a horror writers' paradise.

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