60 million years ago, a gigantic apex predator ruled the swampy jungles of South America.
Titanoboa, a snake as long as a full-size school bus, slithered through the muddy rivers
and lowlands of northern Colombia, lording over primeval jungles until its eventual extinction;
but what if Titanoboa, the largest snake ever discovered, was still alive today?
In the warm jungles of the Amazon lives one of the heaviest and longest snakes in South
America and the world. The Green Anaconda is a water-loving snake large enough to swallow deer,
sheep, and even big cats, like the spotted jaguar. With expert camouflage, they hide in
shallow rivers and flooded grasslands, ambushing prey and suffocating them with their powerful
bodies. Growing up to 9 meters long, these huge slithering carnivores are the stuff of nightmares,
but a more terrifying monster once lived and hunted in the very same jungles.
During the Paleocene Epoch, which began about 66 million years ago, the king of the primeval world
was not Tyrannosaurus Rex or Spinosaurus but a colossal snake lurking in the warmest, wettest
corners of South America. Back then, our planet was significantly hotter and more humid, partially
due to abundant CO2 in the atmosphere. Some parts of the world were already scorching during the
Late Cretaceous Period, the last great age of the dinosaurs, but temperatures climbed even higher
following a global catastrophe known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene or K-Pg Extinction Event.
At the end-boundary of the Cretaceous period, a large asteroid likely crashed into shallow
waters along the coast of modern-day Mexico. Over thousands of years, the impact and its
after-effects eradicated the majority of life on Earth. Wildfires raged across the globe,
tsunamis devoured coastlines, and volcanoes spewed pillars of smoke, increasing the concentration of
CO2 in the atmosphere and warming the planet. Under these conditions, the tropics of South
America became a smoldering greenhouse. Dense jungles exploded in the wetlands of Colombia,
Venezuela, and Brazil, nourished by almost daily precipitation. During its wettest seasons,
these jungles flooded for weeks or months, covering their murky swamplands in mud deep enough
to engulf a human being head to toe. In these blistering ecosystems, cold-blooded animals, like
snakes, turtles, and crocodylomorphs, may have doubled or tripled in size. Cold-blooded animals
cannot generate their own heat, so they depend on their environment to raise their body temperature.
These animals flourished in the superheated jungles of the mid to late Paleocene, but
none more than the colossal serpent, Titanoboa. Classified as Titanoboa cerrejonensis or “titanic
boa from Cerrejon,” this giant semi-aquatic snake was a powerhouse unlike any in history. Based on
approximately 30 specimens and other ecological data, paleontologists believe Titanoboa stretched
a remarkable 13 meters long. By comparison, the longest modern snake — a reticulated python
in Indonesia — reportedly measured about 10 meters long. If Titanoboa were alive today,
it would almost certainly steal the record for the longest snake to ever exist. On top
of its incredible length, Titanoboa weighed upwards of 1,000 kilograms, or 2,200 pounds,
far surpassing even the heaviest anacondas. Titanoboa resembled both a boa and an anaconda,
so much so that paleontologists aren’t sure which one it resembled more. Titanoboa shared anatomical
characteristics with boa constrictors, but it behaved more like an anaconda, spending most of
its time immersed in shallow water. While hunting, Titanoboa may have masked its giant body in layers
of mud and murky water, slowly ambushing its prey, clamping down its hooked teeth,
and choking the life from their bodies. With such tremendous size and power, Titanoboa could capture
and kill the largest predators in its ecosystem, including crocodylomorphs and even other snakes.
Sometime during the late Paleocene, Titanoboa disappeared from the lowland tropics of northern
Colombia. The exact cause of its extinction remains unclear, though it may have been affected
by sudden changes in the Earth’s climate. During the Late Paleocene and early Eocene,
the global average temperature rapidly increased by about 5 degrees Celsius, an event known as the
Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum or PETM. This global event caused widespread extinctions,
mass migrations, and disruptions to marine and terrestrial ecosystems,
including the swamps and jungles of South America. Had Titanoboa survived beyond the PETM, it would
have faced more challenges in the millions of years between then and now. Around 34 million
years ago, the Eocene-Oligocene Transition marked the first major period of global
cooling and glaciation. Ice sheets around the planet’s poles generously expanded, atmospheric
CO2 levels dropped, and temperatures, even in the hottest and wettest parts of the world,
decreased significantly. These colder conditions threatened large cold-blooded
animals like Titanoboa, lowering body temperatures and slowing their metabolisms.
Even if Titanoboa adapted to these changes in the climate, it may have been outmatched by
the many mammals taking over the globe. Filling ecological niches once occupied by dinosaurs,
mammals came to dominate the dry grasslands and forests of the Eocene and beyond, but no species
may have been more threatening than humankind. Humans have lived in South America for thousands
of years, hunting and killing animals, sometimes many times their size. During the last Ice Age,
about 11,700 years ago, overhunting by humans drove massive mammals, like mastodons and
woolly mammoths, to the brink of extinction. In terms of raw physicality, a human could never
compete with a monster as large as Titanoboa, but by hunting in groups and using tools,
ancient humans might have reduced populations of Titanoboa long before the present day.
If Titanoboa somehow survived all these hurdles and still existed in the world today, its impact
may be as profound as it is unpredictable. Apex predators have a tremendous influence
on food chains, promoting ecological balance by reducing populations of smaller prey. For example,
if Titanoboa was alive today, its presence may impact populations of swamp-dwellers,
like turtles and crocodiles. The shrinking of any population could have unforeseeable
and irreversible consequences on local food chains. Over millions of years, it’s
impossible to predict how one apex predator might influence the evolution of the natural world.
It’s safe to say these enormous serpents would have an impact on our lives as well.
Only a handful of terrestrial carnivores, like bears and big cats, are known to attack humans,
but Titanoboa would surely rank among the most dangerous. Imagine stepping into your
backyard to find not a common garter snake but a 13-meter monstrosity slithering from
the underbrush. Titanoboa was large enough to wrap its titanic body around cars, capsize small boats,
and swallow human adults with ease. It’s uncommon for modern snakes like anacondas to attack humans,
but the much larger Titanoboa might have developed a taste for primates.
There are only a few places on Earth where Titanoboa could hypothetically live,
like the forested swamps in the southern United States. Acting as a spillway for
the Mississippi River, over a million acres of balmy lowlands make up the Atchafalaya Swamp,
the largest wetland in the country. In its climate and diversity, Atchafalaya resembles northern
Colombia about 58 million years ago, making these swamps and marshes potentially suitable
for even the largest cold-blooded carnivores. Further east, another potential habitat for
Titanoboa can be found in the subtropical wetlands of southern Florida, known as the Everglades. High
temperatures and regular flooding have transformed these sprawling marshlands into a breeding ground
for a diverse web of plants and animals. Among cypress trees and tangled mangroves live more than
50 distinct species of reptiles, including snakes, lizards, and crocodiles, Titanoboa’s natural prey.
Assuming Titanoboa survived into the modern era, it might still be living in the jungles
of Colombia, slithering through its flooded forests and warm, winding rivers. Today,
the Amazon Rainforest may be dryer, cooler, and less forested than it was millions of years ago,
but it remains tropical and warm year-round. With an average temperature of 22 to 26 degrees Celsius
and upwards of 300 centimeters of annual precipitation, the Amazon Rainforest is
a dense wonderland of flora and fauna, housing many species of animals and plants that humans
have yet to classify. Hypothetically, Titanoboa could live and hunt somewhere deep in these
flourishing forests, but the Titanoboa of today may no longer resemble the monsters of old.
Some animals, like the African Lungfish, have survived mostly unchanged for about 400 million
years, but lungfish are the exception rather than the rule. Most populations gradually change
in response to fluctuations in their respective ecosystems. Over time, the strongest or “fittest”
organisms naturally survive and reproduce, passing on their genes, while weaker organisms dwindle and
become extinct. During the mid to late Paleocene, the largest and heaviest Titanoboa may have died
out, unable to cope with global cooling, habitat loss, and other changes in their environment,
but smaller Titanoboa that require less energy to survive could have lived beyond
the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, thus passing on their genotype to future generations. After
millions of years of natural selection, the modern relatives of Titanoboa may resemble today’s boas
and anacondas more than their colossal ancestors. Millions of years have passed since Titanoboa
slithered through the jungles of South America. The fossils we study today are a chilling
reminder of how the right environment at the right time can facilitate the
most incredible feats of evolution. That time and place have drifted into the distant past,
but all these years later, Titanoboa remains the largest and most terrifying snake to ever live.