If We Don't Get Global Warming Under Control We'll Be Eaten By 40 Foot Pythons!!!

[BlooInBloo]

For reals.

Sorta.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/04/titanoboa-cerrejonensis-2_n_163943.html

NEW YORK — Never mind the 40-foot snake that menaced Jennifer Lopez in the 1997 movie "Anaconda." Not even Hollywood could match a new discovery from the ancient world. Fossils from northeastern Colombia reveal the biggest snake ever discovered: a behemoth that stretched 42 to 45 feet long, reaching more than 2,500 pounds.

"This thing weighs more than a bison and is longer than a city bus," enthused snake expert Jack Conrad of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was familiar with the find.

"It could easily eat something the size of a cow. A human would just be toast immediately."

...

Titanoboa's size gives clues about its environment. A snake's size is related to how warm its environment is. The fossils suggest equatorial temperatures in its day were significantly warmer than they are now, during a time when the world as a whole was warmer. So equatorial temperatures apparently rose along with the global levels, in contrast to the competing hypothesis that they would not go up much, Head noted.

"It's a leap" to apply the conditions of the past to modern climate change, Head said. But given that, the finding still has "some potentially scary implications for what we're doing to the climate today," he said.

[NaturalHigh]

1. I would make a pretty hefty meal for one of those.

Of course, I live in Oklahoma, so there is a good chance that the mosquitoes will get to me first.

[BlooInBloo]

2. Heh. There's probably entire ecosystems inside a behemoth like that.

[aquart]

3. And thus the origin of human sacrifice.

Or have you never wondered about that? Snakes don't eat that often. Feed 'em Fred, six months of peaceful co-existence.

[NaturalHigh]

6. That's an excellent point that I hadn't considered.

If we are ever menaced with monster snakes, I am willing to draw up a list of names and a feeding schedule.

[BlooInBloo]

13. It's a genius point. Except that the damn things disappeared brazillions of years before people.

[kirby]

4. They'll take over the planes too! n/t

[The Straight Story]

5. So was it the snakes that caused the last global warming?

:)

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. Snake farts - who woulda thunk it!

.
.
.

I mean - a snake 40 feet long, after eating a dinosaur or two.

It'd hafta fart, right? . .

unless it took beano first

:silly:

[Tsiyu]

7. MotherFin' snakes on a MotherFin'...........it's Uktena!!!!!

The old, old Cherokee stories tell that snakes as big around as trees used to live here in TN.

Chattanooga had Uktena, who was also a supernatural snake. Ha!

MotherFin' snakes on a .....

[joeunderdog]

8. Anyone see "Lost Tapes" on Animal Planet last night about the Megaconda?

Cool show, but I'm a little skeptical about some of the content. They show actual video of "creatures" not thought to exist, although somehow the video never catches them completely. Interesting. Last night was about a man-eating snake.

[NaturalHigh]

16. I don't know if I've seen that particular show...

but I've seen something similar on another channel. On the show that I saw, there wasn't any piece of video that showed me any evidence of any really big snakes.

[leftofthedial]

10. left-handed pythons!

with navels!

[slackmaster]

11. Two obvious questions...

1. What round would you need to shoot it with to stop it?

2. Does anyone have any good python recipes?

[BlooInBloo]

12. Governor what's-her-name's helicopter would actually be useful in this instance.

[NaturalHigh]

14. I've heard that they taste like chicken.

[slackmaster]

17. I've eaten rattlesnake a few times

It was quite good.

[Johonny]

15. I support the eating of Jennifer Lopez by 40 foot snakes