James Stewart

What if it was already out there and we just haven't seen it yet?

I know that sounds pretty wild, but rather like Megalodon, the internet is alive with those convinced a bus-sized snake is still lying in wait somewhere out there right now.

After all, large swathes of the Amazon are still largely unexplored, so it could be hiding, right?

Wrong.

Titanoboa, as we've discussed, lived in a very specific climate that no longer exists, even at our current rate of global warming.

Moreover, not only have there been no credible sightings or remains of any 12 metre snakes found, we sort of don't need there to be.

Titanoboa was the apex predator during its time.

If it were still alive today, hidden or not, the food chain would look very different, and so would pretty much every animal it once ate.

All that remains of this once great monster now is found in fossils, not forests.

The story of Titanoboa strikes a special balance of mystery and science.

It was an animal almost beyond comprehension, a snake that outsizes anything we know, and for years its very existence was unknown to us, buried in rock.

Through scientific curiosity and the sheer perseverance and collaboration of so many individuals over so many years, they were able to come together to make something great, to decode its life piece by piece.

What emerged is not a myth or a movie monster, but something far more intriguing.

A real creature that tells us about the extremes of nature.

And there might still be more to come.

In the last two years, scientists in India have uncovered another snake vertebrae, vertebrae in the same league as Titanoboa.

Dubbed Vasuki Indicus, the vertebrae found are 11 centimetres in diameter, which is not far off Titanoboa.

We'll watch to see what new clues are found in the months to come, and who knows, maybe Titanoboa's title is under threat.

Until then, this great creature continues to spark the sense of awe that comes with realising that such a world truly existed.

If you got this far in the video, thank you.