VASUKI INDICUS - ART AND
CULTURE
News: fossils of massive prehistoric
snake found in lignite mine in gujarat
what's in the news?
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researchers recently reported the discovery of
fossils of one of the largest snakes that ever existed, which has been named
vasuki indicus.
key takeaways:
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the reptile existed at a time when the earth looked
quite different from today, and africa, india and south america were one,
conjoined landmass.
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vasuki indicus likely had a broad and cylindrical
body, hinting at a robust and powerful build and was as big as titanoboa, a massive snake that once
roamed the earth and is reportedly the longest ever known.
vasuki indicus:
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the fossils of vasuki indicus were found in kutch, gujarat.
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vasuki refers to the mythical snake often depicted
around the neck of the hindu god shiva.
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it is one of the largest snakes ever discovered,
measuring between 10 and 15 meters in length.
discovered by:
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the fossils were discovered at the panandhro
lignite mine in kutch by researchers from the indian institute of technology
roorkee.
period:
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it lived in the middle eocene period (roughly 47 million years ago) in india.
climate:
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the organism lived at a time when temperatures were
relatively warm, at roughly 28 °c.
habitat:
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these snakes spread from india through southern
eurasia and into north africa after the indian subcontinent collided with
eurasia about 50 million years ago.
species:
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it belonged to the now-extinct madtsoiidae snake family but represents a unique lineage
from india.
○
madtsoiidae are gondwanan terrestrial snakes that
lived between the upper cretaceous (100.5 million to 66 million years ago) and
the late pleistocene (0.126 million years ago to 0.012 million years ago).
features:
●
it reached lengths between 10 and 15 metres long
and 1 tonne in weight.
●
it likely had a broad and cylindrical body, hinting at a robust and powerful build,
and was as big as titanoboa, a massive snake that once roamed the earth and is
reportedly the longest ever known.
●
vasuki was a slow-moving
ambush predator that would subdue its prey through constriction, like
anacondas and pythons.
significance of the
discovery:
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the discovery crucial for understanding the ancient
ecosystems of india and contributes to the broader knowledge of snake evolution
worldwide.
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it also shows how snakes adapted to different
climates and suggests that high temperatures may have contributed to their
large sizes.
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it also helps scientists understand more about the
conditions and ecological factors that influenced the evolution of reptiles
during the eocene era.