Titanoboa tops the list of the largest snakes, weighing over a ton and measuring 13 meters in length.
Reticulated python (9.9 m)
The reticulated python is the longest snake species known today. Photo: Paul Starosta
Native to South Asia, the reticulated python ( Malayopython reticulatus ), easily recognizable by its repeating diamond-shaped pattern, is the longest snake on Earth today. Records from 1912 mention a captured reticulated python measuring 10 meters, the size of a school bus, although this figure is difficult to verify. According to the British Natural History Museum, reticulated pythons typically exceed 6.25 meters in length. The longest reticulated python ever recorded in captivity measured 7.7 meters, according to Guinness World Records.
The size and erratic nature of the reticulated python can sometimes threaten human lives. In 2018, authorities found the body of an Indonesian woman inside the stomach of a reticulated python. Like many other python species, the female coils around her nest of eggs and twitches her muscles rhythmically to generate heat to warm the hatchlings, increasing their chances of survival.
Green anaconda (10 m)
The green anaconda can weigh up to 250 kg. Photo: National Geographic.
The green anaconda ( Eunectes murinus ) silently slithers through the swamps and streams of the Amazon, where it can live long enough to reach lengths of over 9 meters. It is the heaviest snake on Earth today, with some individuals weighing up to 250 kg, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
This species of python uses its massive body to constrict prey such as capybaras, caiman crocodiles, and deer. There are no official records for the largest green anaconda, but in 2016, construction workers in Brazil encountered one estimated to be 10 meters long and weighing 399 kg. According to Patrick Campbell, curator at the Natural History Museum in London, the sheer muscle mass of the python's body wrapped around its prey causes cardiac arrest, stopping the heart and circulatory system. This immobilizes the prey for an extended period, giving the green anaconda time to swallow it whole, usually starting with the head.
Gigantophis garstini (9.8 m)
G. garstini was a colossal creature that lived 40 million years ago. Researchers estimate its body length to be 7-10 meters. This constrictor, discovered in Egypt in 1901, could coil around prey as large as the early elephants and swallow them whole. Scientists discovered that Gigantophis was related to another extinct giant snake, the Madtsoia from India, proving that this giant snake species was once widespread throughout Asia.
Palaeophis colossaeus (12 m)
P. colossaeus was a species of sea serpent that lived in the ancient oceans and covered much of North Africa 100 million years ago. When its fossilized skeleton was discovered in what is now the Sahara Desert, researchers calculated from specimens collected during field trips in 1999 and 2003 that the species could have been over 12 meters long, according to an article published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. That figure makes P. colossaeus the longest sea serpent ever found. Based on the skeleton, researchers determined its mouth was large enough to swallow small whales.
Titanoboa cerrejonensis (13 m)
Titanoboa may have been as large as the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Photo: MR1805
As large as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Titanoboa once dominated the humid forests and rivers of South America. It was the largest snake ever to exist on Earth. Dating back 60 million years, Titanoboa is a prehistoric ancestor of today's anaconda. Its 250 vertebrae formed a skeleton 13 meters long. It thrived on a diet of crocodiles and fish in rivers. According to Indiana University, Titanoboa's estimated weight was around 1,130 kg. Fossils of this species were discovered in the early 2000s in the Cerrejón Formation in Colombia.
An Khang (According to Live Science )
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