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Titanoboa Giant snake
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Aug 3, 2025
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60 million years ago, a giant snake
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terrorized what is now the Yucatan
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Peninsula. Hi everyone, this is your
0:07
host Malcolm Walker on Wild but True and
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today we are going to talk about
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Titanoboa.
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Titanoboa was a giant snake that lived
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in what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of
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Mexico. Now this was during the age of
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the dinosaurs.
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However, it was not a dinosaur. Snakes
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are reptiles and dinosaurs were
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arosaurs.
0:25
Today, there are many different kinds of
0:27
arshasaurs alive, including crocodiles
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and birds. Back then, all of the
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arshosaurs were terrible lizards. Hey,
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now the Yucatan Peninsula was once
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covered in a tropical rainforest, but
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today much of it is desert, so it's hard
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to imagine what it looked like 60
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million years ago, but this ancient
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rainforest was home to Titanoboa. The
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first fossils of this giant serpent were
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discovered in 1978, and since then, more
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have been found. These fossils tell us
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that Titanoboa was one of the largest
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land predators that ever lived. How big,
0:58
you ask? Well, this snake could reach
1:01
lengths of 42 feet and weighed over a
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ton. That's bigger than any predator
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that lives in the Yucatan today,
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including the American crocodile. And
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don't forget, crocodiles can grow pretty
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big. The largest crocodile that ever
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lived, the largest crocodile today, the
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saltwater crocodile, can reach lengths
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of 23 feet. To put Titanoboa's size into
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perspective, you could fit four of these
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enormous crocodiles inside of one of
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those 42 foot long titanoboa.
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So, what did Titanobo eat? Well, because
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it was so large, it could eat almost
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anything. It likely prayed on other
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large reptiles, including crocodiles.
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Imagine being a small crocodile minding
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your own business. Swimming around in
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the shallow water looking for fish to
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eat, when suddenly a giant snake
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swallows you whole. That's what life was
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like if you were a reptile 60 million
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years ago. It also likely ate large
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mammals and even other giant snakes. We
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know that Titanobo ate other giant
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snakes because they have stomach stones.
2:00
These are stones that they swallow to
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help with digestion. And these stones
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were likely used to crack the skulls of
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smaller snakes.
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Now, how do we know that Titanoba was
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such a ferocious predator? It had teeth.
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And not just any teeth, serrated teeth,
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just like a crocodile or a shark. These
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would have been great for crushing bone.
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Its jaws could exert a bite force of
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over 1,000 lbs per square in. And don't
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forget, this snake was over 40 ft long.
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So that's a lot of powerful jaws working
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to crush its prey. Tichobo went extinct
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around 60 million years ago, but we
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don't know exactly why. It could be that
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there was a mass extinction that wiped
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out not only Titanoboa, but all of the
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other large animals that it prayed on.
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Maybe there was a sudden change in
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climate that killed off all of the giant
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reptiles. Whatever the reason, Titanoboa
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is not the only giant snake that has
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ever lived. There are others throughout
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history that rival this behemoth. One of
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the most famous is Gigantaphus Garcine.
3:01
It lived in North Africa about 40
3:03
million years ago and reached lengths of
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55 ft. That's the size of a school bus.
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Another giant snake is the Titan python.
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The snake also reached lengths of about
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55 ft and lived in South America about
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60 million years ago. But it wasn't just
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the length of these snakes that was
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impressive. They were also really thick.
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The Titan python was about 4 ft in
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diameter while the Titan oboa was about
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3 ft in diameter. That's the size of a
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doorway. So, what would a giant snake
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like this eat? Well, it likely ate large
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mammals and other giant snakes. It could
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go either way. But let's be honest, who
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wouldn't want to eat a giant snake?
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Please let me know in the comments.
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Don't forget to subscribe so you never
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miss an exciting episode.
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