According to information, the name of the world’s largest snake is based on a popular legend in Indian culture.
This giant snake is called Vasuki Indicus, and has existed since 47 million years ago. Its size is terrifying, even larger than the T-Rex dinosaur, with a body length of up to 15m.
A team of scientists Debajit Datta and Sunil Bajpai discovered 27 quite intact vertebrae of a giant snake in an old coal mine in Gujrat, India. Each vertebra was about 6.5cm long and 10cm wide, suggesting the animal could have been up to 15m long.
Experts believe that this snake belongs to the Madtsoiidae family, which has existed globally for millions of years. The name Vasuki Indicus is taken from a popular legend in Indian Culture, with Vasuki being the snake king, possessing extraordinary power.
Scientists believe that with its large size, the Vasuki Indicus snake has terrifying hunting abilities, moving slowly on the ground to attack prey, like modern anacondas. Biology professor Jesus Rivas from New Mexico Highlands University said that the world’s largest snake can live in swamps due to its large size.
“To breathe, snakes have to move their sternum, which requires great muscular effort to fight gravity,” he said. “But if underwater, breathing is much easier. That’s why many snakes giants today, like the anaconda, like to live in water.”
Therefore, the large size may have caused this snake to adapt to survive in swamps.
Vasuki Indicus has also been compared to Titanoboa, the largest known extinct snake. Titanoboa was about 12m long and weighed more than 500kg. Titanoboa fossils were found in the Colombian rainforest.
