The Titanoboa was the biggest snake that ever lived. It grew as large as 50 feet (15 meters) long and 2,500 pounds (1,250 kilograms). Fortunately for people suffering from ophidiophobia, the snake became extinct about 58 million years ago. It lived over a 10 million year period during the Paleocene epoch, just after dinosaurs became extinct.
More Terrorizing Facts For Ophidiophiles:
- The largest living snakes are the reticulated python and the giant anaconda. The python, which resides in Southeast Asia, grows to about 28 feet (8.7 meters) long, but is rather slim for its length weighing at most about 240 pounds (109 kilograms). The anaconda, a resident of South American, can grow to about 20 feet (6 meters) long and is a bit thicker in the middle at 550 pounds (250 kilograms).
- Snakes sometimes have eyes bigger than their stomachs, literally. In 2006, National Geographic found a 13-foot (4-meter) Burmese python that had tried to eat a 6-foot (2-meter) American alligator. It literally exploded the snake's stomach. Both the snake and the alligator perished.
- Some snakes can "fly." No kidding. Five species in India and Indonesia will slither to the end of a branch, bend themselves into a "J" shape and launch itself through the air and glide — and they do it better than flying squirrels. These species of snakes can grow to about 4 feet (1.2 meters) long.