shadowcat1313 Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Fossil of a giant snake larger than a greyhound bus... probably could have swallowed a cow http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_on_sc/sci_monster_snake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found A herpetologist's wet dream! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix3 Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found I want to use the name Titanoboa in one of my games... I've been thinking about an NPC that can summon prehistoric animals, and this would be a good critter to put in the menagerie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted February 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found ooooh... and on a botched summoning attempt, you still get a dinosaur... but its purple and just causes everybody to run in terror by singing. then again that would give you something to feed your T-Rex and Raptors. and get you a standing ovation from heroes and villains alike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found I've said it before, I'll say it again: I'm grateful that so many of the really big, nasty things went extinct before my ancestors came down from the trees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted February 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found uhmm... dont forget a lot of species of boas and other snakes can climb trees... something this big might just climb the tree to get at the tasty treats at the top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found "This thing weighs more than a bison and is longer than a city bus," enthused snake expert Jack Conrad of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was familiar with the find. "It could easily eat something the size of a cow. A human would just be toast immediately." "If it tried to enter my office to eat me, it would have a hard time squeezing through the door," reckoned paleontologist Jason Head of the University of Toronto Missisauga. You gotta love academics who think of things like this, and moreover, think they're cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found uhmm... dont forget a lot of species of boas and other snakes can climb trees... something this big might just climb the tree to get at the tasty treats at the top Nah, it would weigh too much to climb very high before the tree branches gave way. The proto-hominids would just have to choose a thick enough tree that the snake couldn't topple it outright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted February 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found old old joke from Traveller, about Denebian Tree Oxen, being really scary creatures, it was just a McGuffin though... I wouldnt be as scared of the Tree Oxen as whatever drove them to live in the trees in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted February 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found or hope the snakes didnt have an armored head or horns that they could butt the tree with to shake a snack loose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTaylor Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found You have to love peleontologists: While related to modern boa constrictors, it behaved more like an anaconda and spent almost all its time in the water, Head said. It could slither on land as well as swim.Gee, that's pretty confident talk from someone who just found a few bones. What color was it and did it like long walks on the beach too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found I've said it before' date=' I'll say it again: I'm grateful that so many of the really big, nasty things went extinct before my ancestors came down from the trees.[/quote'] And I've said before - a lot of them became extinct because your ancestors came out of the trees to extinguish them.... But we can't blame our own family for this one. These guys went extinct before we discovered tools and fire! Lucius Alexander And domesticated the palindromedary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found But we can't blame our own family for this one. These guys went extinct before we discovered tools and fire! I never thought I'd say this to you, Lucius, but you lack faith and imagination on this! Give a few extremist wingnuts time, and I'm sure they can find a way to blame this on us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found Here's the article from Nature Magazine's website: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090204/full/news.2009.80.html That's the original the before-cited article is based on. Oh, and it's got an "artist's reconstruction" painting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found A herpetologist's wet dream!Though nobody's saying what it's wet from....Here's the article from Nature Magazine's website: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090204/full/news.2009.80.html That's the original the before-cited article is based on. Oh, and it's got an "artist's reconstruction" painting. Those artists move fast, don't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found Here's another artist's reconstruction that just got released. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix3 Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found Here's another artist's reconstruction that just got released. Haha! Unfortunately, I must spread some rep... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianaJoe3 Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found Haha! Unfortunately' date=' I must spread some rep...[/quote'] Got you covered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattingly Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found And here's one more artist's rendering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found This entire Giant Snake thing keeps me thinking of the 'BC' comic strip. Specifically, the 'Fat Broad' (AFAIK she has no other name in the strip) and her tendency to repeatedly club snakes on sight (notably the 'Snake' character). Gotta wonder about her reaction if ever faced with something like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found You have to love peleontologists:Gee' date=' that's pretty confident talk from someone who just found a few bones. What color was it and did it like long walks on the beach too?[/quote'] Short version, you can tell a lot about a fossil critter based on what the rocks and the other fossils therein show you. The context in which it was found strongly indicates that it lived in the same kind of environment and niche as anacondas, while the anatomical features of the skeleton indicate that it was more closely related to modern boa constrictors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found And here's one more artist's rendering. I was wondering if you were going to bring her into this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found This entire Giant Snake thing keeps me thinking of the 'BC' comic strip. Specifically' date=' the 'Fat Broad' (AFAIK she has no other name in the strip) and her tendency to repeatedly club snakes on sight (notably the 'Snake' character). Gotta wonder about her reaction if ever faced with something like this.[/quote'] She'd probably be reacting as a Fat Broad-shaped outline inside the snake's belly. Poetic Justice at work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayapuppies Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found Here's another artist's reconstruction that just got released. Dude! Conan is HUNG! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTaylor Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found The context in which it was found strongly indicates that it lived in the same kind of environment and niche as anacondas, while the anatomical features of the skeleton indicate that it was more closely related to modern boa constrictors. The boa part is pretty obvious, that's just physiognamy. They lack large portions of the snake (such as the most important part: the skull) but they can make a fairly educated, accurate guess based on the spine and some ribs. The "aquatic" part is just guess. Just because you find a snake skeleton or two in rock that was probably underwater doesn't mean that the snake lived or hunted there, any more than finding lots of skeletons in a tar pit means they lived and hunted there either. I just am sick of scientists making bold, unsubstantiated guesses stated as absolute fact and then Discovery channel creating huge fantasies about how they lived and interacted and looked... all based on incomplete, squashed, and scattered fossils. That's just bad science, stick to what you know and can reasonably demonstrate, not what you guess, and by all means don't absolutely state the guesses as certain fact. At least not in front of a reporter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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