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Herps In The NewsLocal or national articles where reptiles or amphibians have made it into the news media. Please cite sources.
Monster titanoboa snake invades New York By Claudine Zap
New York commuters arriving at Grand Central Station will soon be greeted by a monstrous sight: a 48-foot-long, 2,500-pound titanoboa snake.
The good news: It's not alive. Anymore. But the full-scale replica of the reptile -- which will make its first appearance at the commuter hub on March 22 -- is intended, as Smithsonian spokesperson Randall Kremer happily admitted, to "scare the daylights out of people" -- actually has a higher calling: to "communicate science to a lot of people." The scientifically scary-accurate model will go a long way toward that: If this snake slithered by you, it would be waist-high and measure the length of a school bus. Think of it as the T-rex of snakes.
This newly discovered species, known as titanoboa (yes, the words "titan" and "boa" are in there), which lived 65 million years ago, is about to have its close-up. The New York City appearance is promoting an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History in D.C. opening on March 30, which ties in to a TV special on the Smithsonian Channel called, what else, "Titanoboa: Monster Snake." The two-hour program airs April 1.
Remains of the titanoboa were first discovered in a Colombian coal mine in 2005. One of the researchers specializing in the Paleocene era, the time after the death of the dinosaurs, was Jonathan Bloch. A vertebrate paleontologist from University of Florida's Museum of Natural History, the scientist led multiple expeditions, along with Carlos Jaramillo of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The team collected remains from the mine, which resulted in the find. Together with ancient-snake expert Jason Head of the University of Nebraska, they named the world's largest snake Titanoboa.
Speaking on the phone to Yahoo! News, Bloch admitted that when the team was first collecting the skeletons of Titanoboa, he didn't immediately understand what he had found until he returned to the lab. With the help of his students, he was able to identify the fossils as snakes, just much, much bigger than the ones of today. He described the enormous vertebrae as "sort of like if you saw a mouse skull the size of rhino skull."
The predator, which is related to a boa constrictor but actually behaved like an anaconda, lived in water and fed on fish, other titanoboas, and crocodiles (very, very large crocodiles).
If this sounds like Hollywood's next blockbuster, Bloch noted that this time around, truth is actually bigger than fiction: The predator from the movie "Anaconda," for one, is not as big as titanoboa. "This is really an example where reality and the past have exceeded the imaginations of Hollywood."
Does anyone find the timing of this suspicious? Federal government pushes federal ban on large constricting snakes, perpetuated by fear, and now a large statue of a giant, albeit extinct, snake eating a gator in the hub of transit in NYC?? Am I being paranoid or....???
maybe just a little paranoid but you might have a point. Look at all the shows on television lately such Swamp Wars, Python Hunters, Swamp People, dangerous attraction, & I just seen a new one called Rattlesnake Republic. They may be a decent way to gain attention or educate but some of these shows can be misleading too. If you believe in the saying monkey see monkey do, its just a matter of time before people get hurt or worst. Once that happens the bans have examples of people who are in it for the wrongs reasons anyway being irresponsible. It could ruin it or make the fight that much harder for the rest of us...
I think it's unfortunate timing and that some people will think about those 'deadly pythons' when they look at the statue and not read the placard, but the discovery itself is just plain awesome. Did you see the looks on those paleontologists' faces? They were absolutely thrilled! I can't hold such a discovery against them, and they're right, it is an excellent educational opportunity for a great variety of folks.
I think it's unfortunate timing and that some people will think about those 'deadly pythons' when they look at the statue and not read the placard, but the discovery itself is just plain awesome. Did you see the looks on those paleontologists' faces? They were absolutely thrilled! I can't hold such a discovery against them, and they're right, it is an excellent educational opportunity for a great variety of folks.
I agree.
Just a side note I didn't notice in the article until a friend pointed it out.
The discovery was in a Colombian coal mine but happened in 2002 & not in 2005.
Monster titanoboa snake invades New York
New York commuters arriving at Grand Central Station were greeted by a monstrous sight: a 48-foot-long, 2,500-pound titanoboa snake.
Does anyone find the timing of this suspicious? Federal government pushes federal ban on large constricting snakes, perpetuated by fear, and now a large statue of a giant, albeit extinct, snake eating a gator in the hub of transit in NYC?? Am I being paranoid or....???
I thought the same thing. this isn't a new discovery, it was found quite a while ago. Why now?
It's just bad timing. This is a tremendous scientific discovery. As a scientist myself, let me tell you it takes years from the commencement of a project until your findings are written, peer-reviewed, published, and then accepted by the scientific community. A turn around time of just 7 years is astounding considering the amount of physical labor required simply to unearth and then reconstruct a skeletal model. That, and you can't just make a metal statue or get permits to put a statue like that in the center of New York city overnight, this thing has obviously been in the works for at least a year.
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