Dinopedia
Advertisement
Snake

Gigantophis could eat large crocodiles

Gigantophis garstini was a prehistoric snake which may have measured more than 10 metres (33 ft), larger than any living species of snake. It once took the mantle of largest snake before Titanoboa, which was recently discovered in Colombia. Gigantophis lived approximately 40 million years ago in the southern Sahara where Egypt and Algeria are now situated

Diet

Gigantophis fed on pig-sized elephants called Proboscideans. The giant snake also ate crocodiles and other large reptiles like monitor lizards. Gigantophis would largely be an aquatic snake, hiding underwater until it was time to strike. It was a constrictor, like modern day Boas and Pythons. However it was related to neither of those two snake families, instead it was part of the now extinct genus Madtsoiidae.

Advertisement