Titanoboa

Kess73 · 29-03-2012 12:12pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

Well the blood python is an ambush, "sit and wait" predator... so maybe if Titanoboa wasn´t hunting like an anaconda, it may have been a sit and wait predator as well, but the question is, what kind of prey on land would be large enough to feed such a gigantic snake?
To my knowledge there weren´t many large land mammals or reptiles at the time, were they?

It being an ambush predator on land is exactly what I was mulling over in my head.

It could of course been both a terrestrial ambush predator like a blood python and an aquatic ambush predator like an anaconda.

There would have been the likes of various Titanoides around during the same time period with the larger species ranging from 300lbs to almost hippo size. There were other large mammals around as well, especially during the middle and third stages of the Paleocene. The first stage does not have as much known about what mammals were present. But there were certainly large mammals present during the same estimated time period as the Titanoboa and there were also huge flightless birds present towards the end of that time period.
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Galvasean · 29-03-2012 12:15pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

Or put in other words, you have an ecosystem with large prey available (turtles and crocodiles) which creates an open niche for a very large predator, and the ancestor of Titanoboa steps forward (ok, slithers forwards) to fill that niche. Hadn´t the snake been around said niche could have been taken by something else, probably also a croc, that would become gigantic as well...

Millions of years later in Colombia the giant croc Purussaurus occupied a similar niche to Taitanoboa.

Adam Khor wrote:

Well the blood python is an ambush, "sit and wait" predator... so maybe if Titanoboa wasn´t hunting like an anaconda, it may have been a sit and wait predator as well, but the question is, what kind of prey on land would be large enough to feed such a gigantic snake?
To my knowledge there weren´t many large land mammals or reptiles at the time, were they?

Based on what I've seen in relation to habitat it seemed to be quite comparable too the modern Amazon, albeit possibly on a larger scale.

Adam Khor · 29-03-2012 8:59pm

Kess73 wrote: »

It being an ambush predator on land is exactly what I was mulling over in my head.

It could of course been both a terrestrial ambush predator like a blood python and an aquatic ambush predator like an anaconda.

There would have been the likes of various Titanoides around during the same time period with the larger species ranging from 300lbs to almost hippo size. There were other large mammals around as well, especially during the middle and third stages of the Paleocene. The first stage does not have as much known about what mammals were present. But there were certainly large mammals present during the same estimated time period as the Titanoboa and there were also huge flightless birds present towards the end of that time period.
.

Which shows how little I know about the Paleocene. I was aware of Titanoides and kin and the giant birds but, I thought they had lived later... maybe it's time to draw a Titanoboa constricting something different from a crocodile for a change

Rubecula · 29-03-2012 9:33pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

Which shows how little I know about the Paleocene. I was aware of Titanoides and kin and the giant birds but, I thought they had lived later... maybe it's time to draw a Titanoboa constricting something different from a crocodile for a change

Crushing the hopes of a Jack Horner?

Adam Khor · 29-03-2012 10:02pm

Rubecula wrote: »

Crushing the hopes of a Jack Horner?

Mwahaha:pac:

Galvasean · 26-04-2012 11:10pm

The documentary, titled "World's Largest Snake' will be shown here next Thursday at 20:00 on Channel 4 (or was it More 4?).

Zadkiel · 03-05-2012 9:33pm

Galvasean wrote: »

The documentary, titled "World's Largest Snake' will be shown here next Thursday at 20:00 on Channel 4 (or was it More 4?).

Anyone watch it?
I thought it was very good. Now I want to experiment with modern snakes and extreme temperatures

Galvasean · 03-05-2012 9:50pm

I'm curious about this super-croc that inhabited the eco-system with Titanoboa. Bit of a shame that it was only a foot note in the documentary.

Adam Khor · 03-05-2012 10:14pm

Galvasean wrote: »

I'm curious about this super-croc that inhabited the eco-system with Titanoboa. Bit of a shame that it was only a foot note in the documentary.

The show was about Titanoboa, after all, which also explains the nasty ending for the super-croc. But it was indeed the biggest surprise in the show, to me at least

Galvasean · 03-05-2012 10:36pm

I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned before. Perhaps the tooth marks were only spotted after they had started making the documentary so could not shift the focus ubder such short notice.

Adam Khor · 03-05-2012 10:38pm

Galvasean wrote: »

I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned before. Perhaps the tooth marks were only spotted after they had started making the documentary so could not shift the focus ubder such short notice.

Yeah, and like I said, it was Titanoboa's show XD

Speaking of the croc, here's a site: http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17544885 in which the scientist mentions that they found (in Cerrejón) not only Titanoboa and giant turtles, but "the largest crocodiles in the fossil record" which I guess refers to the croc from the show. It certainly looked huge but still, that claim is impressive if we consider how huge Deinosuchus, Purussaurus, Sarcosuchus and company grew up :O

cruizer101 · 03-05-2012 11:16pm

Watching it now on 4OD, its a BIG snake :eek:

Surpirsed its up already its normally a day before things go up, available for next 30 days if anyone else missed it and wants to see.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-worlds-largest-snake/4od#3334341

Galvasean · 03-05-2012 11:24pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

Speaking of the croc, here's a site: http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17544885 in which the scientist mentions that they found (in Cerrejón) not only Titanoboa and giant turtles, but "the largest crocodiles in the fossil record" which I guess refers to the croc from the show. It certainly looked huge but still, that claim is impressive if we consider how huge Deinosuchus, Purussaurus, Sarcosuchus and company grew up :O

Hmm, I'll take the 'biggest' claims with a pinch of salt. There are some epically huge crocs on the fossil record. It'd take something special to dislodge them/

Adam Khor · 24-10-2013 12:59am

So, since we already had a thread about Titanoboa almost as long as the snake itself, I didn´t want to start a new one :B

Seems a new study will be published soon about this beauty, and its very different to what we expected. Far from eating giant crocodiles and turtles, it is very possible that it was feeding mostly on fish, as suggested by new remains including parts of the skull and teeth that are very similar to those of specialized fish-eating snakes nowadays.
The fact that large fish such as lungfish and arowana/arapaima relatives have been found in the same sites suggests that it was probably not so much a giant anaconda or blood python kind of thing, like we speculated here, but more like a tentacled snake or an elephant-trunk snake- that is, a highly aquatic (maybe completely so? I hope they address this in the paper) piscivorous snake.

The study also suggests a lenght of about 14.3 meters for Titanoboa, with a skull about 40 cms long, and it was apparently more closely related to Madagascan and Pacific island boas than to anacondas or other New World boids.

Thought you'd like to know :B

Galvasean · 27-10-2013 9:24am

Well zog it anyway! Better ad that to the list.

Rubecula · 28-10-2013 1:48am

You compare it to Hydracos then? LOL LOL

Sorry*

Josip007 · 28-04-2018 5:40pm

Damn, Titanoboa was huge.Wouldn't like to see one in person tbh

Titanoboa

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