Some years ago, Prof. Sunil Bajpai collected some fossils from the Panandhro lignite mine – a dry region in the Gujarat state of India.
When these fossils were brought to the lab at IIT Roorkee and analysed, the researchers, Prof. Sunil Bajpai, and Prof. Debajit Dutta realised that they were possibly looking at a hitherto (hitherto – so far) undiscovered species. The bones did not match the pattern of any known species – alive or extinct.
Further, the size of the vertebral bones was much larger than snake vertebrae found in fossils anywhere in the world.
They were right. The fossils did belong to a new species. When they tried to calculate the length of the snake based on the distance between the vertebrae, they were surprised to note that the snake specimen was possibly 50 feet long – making it the largest known snake species – fossil or living.
The size was estimated using two different data sets – the first, that compares with other snakes of the same category (Madtisoiide – large snakes) and the second, that uses data from all types of snakes. The first set estimated the total body length (TBL) to be 14.5 and 15.2 m (about 50 feet), while the second set estimated it to be between 10.9 and 12.2 m (about 40 feet).
Even though the size of the vertebrae is slightly smaller than what was found for a species called Titanoboa cerrejonensis (discovered in 2009), scientists estimate that the Vasuki indicus was very likely the larger snake, because the arrangement of the vertebrae differs in these two species.
Here is a comparison of the size of Vasuki indicus with the largest snakes we have on Earth today.
What else do we know about the snake?
Because it was huge, the snake very likely used the same method to hunt as pythons and other large snakes. It was not agile enough to actively hunt.
The species likely lived in a marshy, semi-tropical temperature of about 28 degrees Celsius.
When the carbon and oxygen content of the bones is analysed, we may know more about the diet and lifestyle of the species.
The findings were submitted to the journal Scientific Reports in October 2023 and published in April 2024. The paper can be read here.
Note: A creative reconstruction of the snake is, unfortunately, not available in the public domain yet, but you can see a creative reconstruction of the second largest snake fossil – the Titanoboa cerrejonensis, as part of a documentary.