The Largest Snake Ever Has No Cause Of Death

Fifty-eight million years ago, a snake longer than a school bus and heavier than a car ruled the swamps of what is now Colombia. For forty million years, from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the arrival of megalodon, nothing on this planet outranked it. Then it was gone — and there is no crime scene. No asteroid. No ash layer. No last known individual. Titanoboa is in the rock, and then it isn't. What actually ended it wasn't a killer at all. It was a limit — and that limit is still running today. Chapters: 0:00 A bone labelled "crocodile" 0:33 There is no cause of death 1:21 Forty-seven feet, one ton 3:11 The swamp that grew a monster 4:43 What it actually ate 6:12 Seventeen years of argument 8:33 The rule that closed the window 9:50 The record may not be safe Every extinction has a reason. Most of them are still in play. If the window opened again — what fills the slot? Another snake, or something that hasn't shown up yet? Tell me in the comments. Sources include: Head et al., Nature (2009); Denny, Lockwood & Somero, Nature (2009); Datta & Bajpai, Scientific Reports (2024); Rivas, Herpetological Journal (2023).