The oldest snake in the world

World’s Largest Snake Fossil: Which Was the Biggest Snake to Ever Roam the Earth? Check the Facts!



Have you ever wondered the age of Earth? It's 4.543 billion years. This life-giving planet has seen so many ages come and go, witnessing the rise and fall of species, the shifting of continents, and the evolution of life over billions of years.

During this evolution, this planet was once the homeland of the world’s largest snake in the world. Titanoboa. This largest snake in the world used to live 60–58 million years ago in what's now called Colombia. Its fossil was discovered in the early 2000s.

But in 2005, a million-year-old fossil was discovered in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India. This fossil was analysed by experts, and their analysis suggests that this was the fossil of Vasuki Indicus, which turned out to be one of the largest snakes that ever existed on Earth.

However, between them, who is the largest snake that lived on Earth and was considered the apex predator? Let’s find out.




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Largest Snake in History: Titanoboa, The Apex Predator! How Was It Discovered?









What is the world's oldest snake? Jurassic reptile found in UK


There are three snake species native to the UK - the adder, grass snake and smooth snake.

But the UK is also thought to be the home of the world's oldest snake, which dates back 167 million years to the Jurassic period.


Native wild animals in the UK


What is the oldest snake in the world?

The oldest snake in the world is the Eophis underwoodi, according to BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Fossil remains of the snake, primarily jaw fragments, were found in the Forest Marble Formation at Kirtlington Quarry in Oxfordshire.

Eophis underwoodi dates back around 167 million years to the Bathonian Age during the Middle Jurassic era.

BBC Wildlife Magazine said: "Prior to 2015, the oldest known fossil snakes were ~100 million years old.

"The discovery of Eophis extended the known geological range of snakes by more than 60 million years and suggested they may have originated at a similar time to most other major groups of scaly reptiles."





The snake is believed to have been alive around the same time as the Megalosaurus - a 6-metre long, meat-eating dinosaur, which also called a similar part of southern E

Elderly ball python lays eggs 'without male help'





Saint Louis Zoo




A snake laying eggs might not seem to be the most unusual thing to happen.




But keepers at the Saint Louis Zoo in Missouri were surprised to discover that one of their ball pythons had produced seven eggs - despite having no contact with a male for over 15 years.



While some reptiles are known to reproduce asexually, keepers are also surprised by the mother's age.



At an estimated 62 years old, the ball python is believed to be the oldest living snake.



Mark Wanner, the zoological manager of herpetology at the zoo described the birth as a "unique occurrence".



"It's amazing, in my opinion, that a snake of this age is able to reproduce a fertile clutch of eggs," he told the BBC.



The snake was given to the zoo by a private donor in 1961 and was estimated to be three years old at the time, according to Mr Wanner.



The oldest documented ball python to date was a male at Philadelphia Zoo who died at the age of 47.



Mr Wanner added that the zoo planned to publish information about the snake's age and asexual reproduction, if and when it is confirmed

World's oldest snake reveals secrets of slithery evolution




What makes a snake a snake? The obvious answer is that legless, shudder-inducing shape. But a new batch of Jurassic snake fossils -- including what may be the world's oldest known snake -- offers a surprising alternative.

The latest evidence suggests the snake had a snake-like head well before the rest of it was all neck. These very early fossils have skulls fitted out with clever features that make it easier to gulp large prey, scientists report in this week's
Nature Communications
.

"We find 167 million-year-old bits and pieces of skulls and skeletons that are clearly recognizable as snakes," says paleontologist Michael Caldwell of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, an author of the study reporting the new fossils. "Snakes probably … came up with their innovative (skulls) first, and then, over this last 167 million years, evolved towards limblessness."

Caldwell wasn't looking to find the world's earliest snake when he and a colleague began combing through drawers of lizard fossils at a London museum. Among the specimens they found was a fossil discovered in England and described in the 1990s as a type of ancie