Super-Sized Snake

Scientists uncovered a fossilized snake the size of a bus recently in Colombia. The snake has been dubbed the titanoboa and was a ridiculous 42 ft (13 m) long! The longest snakes today get to be about 32 ft but are quite thin. This snake was believe to weigh a ton! And I thought the snake I held was heavy... sheesh!

The picture to the left with the vertabrae gives a good idea of how massive these things were. The one on the left comes from an anaconda. The one on the right is the fossil of the super snake.

The snake (given the scientific name Titanoboa cerrejonensis) was found in a coal mine excavation. Scientists working together from the University of Toronto, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, and the University of Florida determined the snake for what it was and using the fosilised evidence determined that this jumbo snake lived approximately 58-60 million years ago when this region of Colombia (Cerrejón, hence the species name cerrejonesis) was a flood plain. The mine operation here is enormous and is considered one of the world's largest. In recent years, however, there has ben a pretty decent haul of goods added to the fossil record extracted from this mine.

This recent discovery, however, seems to eclipse them all. The snake has broken all records for snakes found and honestly, I wouldn't want to swim in water where that thing may have lived! I don't mind snakes, but when one can eat me without even trying, time to admire from a distance. 60 million years is a great distance for me! This is about all the snake I can handle. Yes I am still glowing about my snake handling.

The original article was published in Nature.

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Snake Charmer

See the girl to the right of the guy with the green holding the head of a gigantic snake? That's me.

I'm sure you all have figured that out, but I was like a kid in a candy store. The girl next to me hated snakes. I was not even listening to the guy and was sad I had to give it up at the end... even though it weighed a LOT and wouldn't keep still.

Why the little details about my trip to the Miami Metro Zoo? Well, it made me realize that I still really want to have my dream job or something close to it. I want to make wildlife films. I want to teach people about animals. I want to run around in the jungle/dessert/mountains/etc. chasing animals down. If nothing else, I would be happy with the guy in the green's job. Will this happen anytime soon? Probably not. I am not yet a biologist.

You need that fancy piece of paper. Sure I am really good at the science jabber, I have forgotten more about science than most people know, and I have this really bizarre ability to write a kick butt scientific paper, but that does not make me a scientist yet.

I suppose this goes back to my Debate! about standardized education. Maybe it goes deeper to the fact that I am completely unfocused at times. All I know is, this is me. Should be me. Will be me. Maybe I sound arrogant, but the truth of it is I am not. I always doubt myself. I know I get this stuff, so why can't I just finish? Is it important that I do?

I still get to teach people about animals and do educational tours, so why the need to do it at someplace bigger? I love my job. It may not be the grand scale that I hoped for as a little girl, but my dream still came true. Now I just have to finish school. Who knows? Maybe I have a special calling as a snake charmer! Honestly though, it just takes me writing it out like this to put it into perspective.

I may not be working at the American Museum of Natural History, but I still do have my dream job! I get to teach and play with animals. What more could I ask for?

Well, I guess I could finish Western Adventure part 3... or my butterfly video... but in the end, this isn't bad at all. I bet that guy would be happier with my job! Who wouldn't want to play in a big beautiful tropical garden filled with butterflies and get to live in paradise at the same time?

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