Found a snake the length of a five-story building

The weight of Vasuki indicus reached about 1 ton

Scientists have discovered fantastically huge remains of a snake in the Indian state of Gujarat: now it can be recognized as the largest in the history of the world. The length of the reptile “Megalodon” could reach fifteen meters, while its weight was close to a ton. The find was given a symbolic name — Vasuki indicus (in honor of the huge snake Vasuki from Indian myths). Researchers write about this in an article published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

Now scientists suggest that other species of Maddsoid snakes have Indian roots: “The discovery of the remains of this ancient snake in India, belonging to the Maddsoid family, suggests that these ancient reptiles arose on the territory of the Indian subcontinent even before its collision with Asia. After their merger, these snakes spread throughout the southern regions of Eurasia and penetrated into North Africa, where reptiles from this family of snakes were first found.»

This family of reptiles crawled around the world at the end of the Cretaceous period (approximately 66 million years ago): long before the extinction of the dinosaurs. The last representatives disappeared from the face of the earth at the end of the Ice Age. And although on average the sizes of madzoids varied between 6–8 meters, Vasuki indicus, recently discovered by archaeologists, became a real record holder due to its cosmic length — 15 meters. It turned out to be much larger than its Madagascar and Egyptian “brothers,” which until recently were considered the largest representatives of this family.

Previously, unique fossils of an extinct species of reptile, whose age was 250 million years, were also found in India. To date, these are the most ancient archaeological finds in the country. According to scientists, the remains belong to the ancestor of the modern crocodile.