The Biggest Snake To Ever Live Has Just Been Discovered | 7 Days of Science

The biggest snake species to ever live has been named! Also in the news: some very old bread has been found, an unlikely discovery of a hominid mandible in the floor of someone’s renovated house, and much more!
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Sources:
Voyager 1 back in business:
www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-v...
Really old bread:
www.sci.news/archaeology/cata...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas...
Venus’ potential to understand planetary habitability:
www.nature.com/articles/s4155...
www.sci.news/astronomy/venus-...
Great Barrier Reef experiencing its worst mass bleaching event:
www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
www.theguardian.com/environme...
phys.org/news/2024-04-noaa-fo...
Giant snake Vasuki indicus:
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
Giant ichthyosaur Ichthyotitan severnensis:
journals.plos.org/plosone/art...
New Jurassic fish species Toarcocephalus morlok:
palaeo-electronica.org/conten...
Hominid mandible in travertine:
johnhawks.net/weblog/how-many...
www.reddit.com/r/fossils/comm...
0:00 - Introduction
0:26 - Voyager 1 is back in business
2:02 - Some really old bread
3:22 - How Venus helps us understand planetary habitability
4:55 - Quick Orca calf update
5:10 - The Great Barrier Reef is in trouble
7:47 - The biggest snake that ever lived?
9:43 - The biggest ichthyosaur that ever lived?
11:19 - New Jurassic fish species named after Morlocks
12:41 - Hominid jaw found in someone's house!
13:45 - Outro

[@BenGThomas]

Slight correction at 1:39 - that should be over 15 billion miles away, not 15 million! (Though technically it is still over 15 million, but by quite a lot!)

[@nicholaskelly1958]

Ho Hum! I Did Wonder!!

[@bradtrooper5978]

Maybe pin it to the top.

[@EJBert]

Yep thanks for the correction

[@thelostone6981]

What’s a few billion miles between friends?

[@TheCHUCKY1992]

I was about to write a comment lol, already corrected.

[@rileyernst9086]

Matsoian snakes lacked cranial kinesis, and therefore after they constricted their prey, they tore it apart with recurved and serrated teeth rather than trying to swallow it whole. A giant matsoian is well deserving of a mythological name. Hell, I mean in Norse mythology there is Nidhogg, the corpse ripper serpent.

[@kaylashort2780]

Ooooh, can you link an article for further reading about cranial kinesis in Madtsoiidae?

[@caitlynnriley3054]

ME TOO, ME TOO!! This sounds fascinating!!

[@billwooten5263]

I thought nidhogg was a dragon.

[@rileyernst9086]

I have seen it depicted as a winged serpent. And have heard it referred to as a serpent. But i think the term dragon is applicable to anything terrible and reptilian in mythology.

[@anupamraj3922]

@@billwooten5263 there is nothing as dragon in this world, they were actually nagas

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

"Well be in the nieghbourhood, can we visit Sunday?" " Nope, we've got the paleantologists in. "

[@MetalGearCopium]

I love your channel, I'm a frustrated geologist, palaeontologist an astrophysicist. It's too late for me to retrain now so I'll just have to watch you lot. Keep up the good work people.

[@abdusqamar9667]

Curious, why retrain

[@sarasmr4278]

The time will pass regardless 💜

[@nonsequitor]

It's never too late to retrain 🙂

[@MermaidMakes]

Why is it too late?! It’s only too late when you’re in the ground!

[@theperfectbotsteve4916]

nah how'd you even manage that I mean that's got to be at least 6 years in college 💀

[@cheylikespie]

I work in elementary schools and I have a kid who tells me about different types of large snakes every time I see him. I canNOT wait to show him that I have cool snake facts, too!

[@kyrab7914]

That is awesome. Also tell him there might be an extra large extant anaconda. Which would be the BIGGEST living snake.

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

You dont “have a kid” you work for the PUBLIC state and hes apart of a PRIVATE family. By all means, hes your boss. Public school demon filling their heads with non sense. Tell his parents that hes “your kid”, theres one way they should react. Get some skills, a soul, then get in the private sector

[@thisismyusernow]

​@@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895 Alright, old man, that's enough internet for today.

[@randmht9976]

​@@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895you sorry sad fcuk

[@addictedtochocolate920]

​@@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895Get yourself some manners and a brain while we're at it

[@JimmyBlether]

>Bigger snek than T.cerrijonensis All the more noodle to cuddle

[@bashful_vixen2020]

Just imagine the size of the babies! Biggest baby boop noddles.

[@JimmyBlether]

@@bashful_vixen2020 Or alternatively an absolutely insane number of them in a single litter/clutch

[@Zenocius]

Did Titanoboa lay eggs or give birth to live young?

[@JimmyBlether]

@@Zenocius I believe unless its a more "recent" development, as it was a boa it should have given birth to live young. The majority of boas do, with a couple exceptions like the stupid looking Arabian sand boa.

[@Lotan_]

@@JimmyBlether Don't be mean he's trying his best >:(

[@brettpalmer1770]

That has to be the most ridiculous way for a dentist to end up looking at some teeth.

[@owenconroy1262]

A new contender for biggest species of my favorite animal (snakes) and a new contender for biggest animal!! An amazing week for science. Thank you for the awesome updates Ben!

[@GrahamCStrouse]

It would help a lot to know more about the kind of environment the new old snake lived in. That could give us some hints about its body layout. Did it pursue a more anaconda-like lifestyle like Titanaboa almost certainly did or was it more like a reticulated python? Pythons tend to be longer than anacondas but aren’t nearly s massive as the semi-aquatic anaconda. Still an awesome find, though. We’ll also likely be able to make more accurate guesstimates about the size of I. severnensis if we can find us some tooth and jaw material. The largest marine animals tend to utilize relatively passive feeding strategies at least part of the time. Filter-feeding and vacuum-feeding are much more efficient ways to grow huge than more active predation techniques. They’re a bit like Americans that way. 😉 I do wonder whether big Shastasaurids utilized some kind of hybrid hunting strategy; maintaining themselves on a steady diet of small fish & cephalopods & snatching larger prey opportunistically. Reptiles also have certain metabolic advantages over mammals at large sizes.

[@knickebien1966]

If they had bread, they had beer ... a true sign of civilization!

[@QuintenWhyte]

"yep!"-King of the Hill(1997)

[@bustavonnutz]

Fermented & non-baked; probably wort that was left in its vessel.

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

We found weve been making alcohol even since we were cavemen. They would grind out a smooth hole in the cave floor, and thats where theyd ferment their alcohol from the wheat and stuff that was around back then

[@SilkieRoo]

@@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895 Indeed, humans have been creating alcohol for pretty much their entire existence (as in, when they started using tools). Clean water is pretty difficult to find naturally, especially near humans. Alcohol, for a very, very long time, was the only way for humans to have a reliable source of "clean" drink.

[@benwest9004]

I am fairly certain alcohol making predates civilization maybe even fire.

[@Conquistador495]

Yes we have 2000 year old Egyptian pyramid cheese 1400 year old Scottish bog butter and now 8000 year old Turkish bread that means we can make an grilled cheese using ancient ingredients

[@eewilson9835]

I love it, sourdough bread and certain hard cheeses have additional health benefits, lets assume the older the better, and it will grow us big like in super mario bros.

[@williansnobre]

I don't know ... that bread looks like something that already went on a trip through someone's digestive system

[@eewilson9835]

@@williansnobre 2wice digested thru the longest beak ever of 8000 yrs.

[@jedgarren2901]

On Venus

[@eewilson9835]

@@jedgarren2901 I just got the venus symbol necklace pendant, I'm so Prince and 15 billion miles away.

[@colonelklink2164]

It's that Icthyosaur plushie again! Not that this is likely to occur, but if Sir David Attenborough should ever happen upon this channel, I imagine it would be with a profound sense of relief, knowing that the future is in eminently capable hands.

[@SenorTucano]

David Attenborough is on camera openly calling for culling the human population. 😮

[@441rider]

The small orca took food recently and they are coaxing it out.

[@GrahamCStrouse]

That’s good to hear!

[@orionspur]

Not only the world's longest snake, and the world's oldest bread, but also the world's loudest shirt. 🤔

[@exomake_mehorololo]

Dressed for the occasion

[@gattycroc8073]

Ichthosaurs are such a fascinating group of marine reptiles. being the first group of land animals to return to the ocean and reach sizes never before seen.

[@kingofflames738]

First the Ichthyosaurs and now the Whales. It appears "Return to fish" is a far more viable strategy to become gigantic than "become crab".

[@gattycroc8073]

@@kingofflames738 if only we could get a documentary about the Triassic seas.

[@retsaMinnavoiG]

@@kingofflames738 did somebody say 'become crab'... Say no more I'm on it!

[@TangledInRhyme]

Titanoboa will always be my titanobae. But I’m still so excited about this new snake discovery!

[@TremendoJP]

How adorable is the ichthyosaur-like teddy dolphin. ❤

[@curtcoeurdelion]

The biggest snake species to have ever lived was and will always be the legendary trouser snake.

[@sirnetflix7162]

Me: See's the title. Also me: *Aggressively trying to remain mature*

[@maceyr.6583]

???

[@ledaelliott1111]

I guess these scientists haven’t seen my “snake” yet 🤷‍♀️ 🐍 lol jk

[@ruud9767]

Thanks. They're always interesting and uplifting, these 7 Days of Science news updates.

[@Ciech_mate]

Your jingle still does, and has for a long time, been a source of pleasure for me. Thank you.

[@Baerinho]

German "non clickbait" media even went full on clickbait for this and said "Snake bigger than a T-Rex discovered in India". Longer? Yeah, bigger? I take the T-Rex mass which is like 400-800% above that :D

[@samwill7259]

Eat the fossil bread. Yummy

[@hoibsh21]

All of a sudden I'm hungry for some 6,000 year old bread.

[@xINVISIGOTHx]

lots of interesting stuff this week

[@shrekscousin1389]

my childhood

[@matheushjacubowski4073]

Excellent video👍🏻! I always like seeing more ichthyosaur paleo news, but I really missed seeing Tietasaura in this video, specially because it's the FIRST ornithischian dinosaur ever found in Brazil!

[@markaxworthy2508]

A very varied presentation, all of it really interesting. One of the best yet!

[@juanpascallucianobravado6112]

One of the most fascinating 7DOS to date. You guys are so talented and amazing.

[@andypanda4927]

Yeah! Heard that right: 15million.. sorry Ben, 45hrs round trip makes it bit more than 15million. 300K per sec X 22hrs puts closer to 24 billion (with rounding errors).

[@fuzzyboon9069]

Love your shirt! On a sad note, hearing about the condition of the coral reef makes my heart hurt... its so horrible to hear

[@blazethealaskanmalamute4633]

I much appreciate your style of news!

[@glennhiggins7680]

Thank you for updating us on Brave Little Hunter. You guys are very professional. I hope your advisors are taking note.

[@urefhddedhtssh]

Largest snake in the world : Taitenaboa ❌ Vasuki indicus ☑️

[@andreagriffiths3512]

As an Aussie the bleaching of the reef is terrible news. It breaks my heart.

[@dashali4700]

You're the best, Ben! 🦖🦕🦈🐬 You make paleontology fun to learn! 😊

[@sassa82]

7 days of fun! 🎉

[@Jean-yn6ef]

The giant ichthyosaur is exciting since I somehow find it hard to think a mammal is the world’s largest animal

[@nell5815]

Literally the best content. Thank you

[@LEDewey_MD]

Amazing update!! ❤

[@nebulan]

Dentist: dude i know homonid teeth ok

[@GrahamCStrouse]

Shastasaurids were absolute units! I’d hold off on the Biggest Critter Ever comparisons until we accrue more specimens, however. I’d also like to know more about I. severnensis’ jaws and dentition. Active hunters tend not to grow as large as filter feeders. The amount of energy required to tackle large live prey tends to be a limiting factor in marine monster growth. This is part of the reason, incidentally, why I’ve always been a little skeptical of some of the more, shall we say, “enthusiastic” size estimates of extinct animals like O. megalodon. For a marine animal to approach or exceed the size of a modern blue whale a passive feeding strategy is more likely than an active one. At the very least it would probably need to have suction/vacuum-style feeding as an option.

[@ian.r5261]

7 Days of Science videos show that natural history is the most interesting "field of history" because it's updating quickly

[@samanthahowlett8787]

Love the shirt! And your channel 😊

[@eewilson9835]

Vasuki Indicus was 40million years ago, oh wait, its gone camo and water borne, now we know its still here and stay indoors.

[@PAPSN]

So sad to think how many absolutely important discoveries have been built over with million dollar skyscrapers

[@VeeDubR32]

None

[@PAPSN]

@@VeeDubR32 are you dense? Absolutely thousands. Every time an old building gets knocked down it’s a 50/50 if they find fossils under it. Shut it if you aren’t actually using your intellect.

[@laurachapple6795]

That's one way to be remembered forever.

[@AceofDlamonds]

I think Titanoboa and Vasuki should share the top spot until more evidence emerges.

[@paurushbhatnagar8100]

I am waiting for more such monster snakes coming out of fossil cupboards.

[@parallaxnick637]

15 million miles? I think you mean 15 billion.

[@TrungNguyen-du9cn]

Ben needs a maitai with this shirt. Maybe 2?

[@hanselmansell7555]

Love this channel 😊

[@speedy29676]

Thanks!

[@DragonFae16]

Crown of thorns star fish are not native to Australian waters, but are an invasive species.

[@user-gv4by8tv6l]

Exciting news from Voyager. I am amazed that it is still functioning and kudos to those responsible. A new huge snake and another possible candidate for biggest animal ever amongst your beloved ichthyosaurs, size may not matter but it still fascinates us, doesn't it? You may be my favourite site, i finally have a place to go to keep updated - particularly on dinosaurs, pterosaurs and the various kinds of sealife of that particular (long) era. Not sure why but heteradontosaurus is still my favourite - those teeth remind me of roe deer and if i could have one that's the one I'd choose. Thanks. Keep going. BTW love the plushy.

[@jss1121]

0:07 let's get this out on a tray

[@EcoLogicality]

I love your travertine floor. It really speaks to me!

[@patreekotime4578]

You are always jawing about it.

[@user-rz6uv5ye8c]

Amazing video

[@yissibiiyte]

The mighty megasnek

[@LupusYonderboy13]

That'd be a big snoot to boop

[@kadenmohlow4178]

Love your guys show

[@NickWeissMusic]

Speaking of ancient man made goods, I had a shirt just like that in 1994

[@MicrowaveOvenVideo]

Seeing the mandible on redit a while back, I am happy it is finally getting professional opinions

[@The_PokeSaurus]

Oldest Bread!? Man, I'm hungry now.

[@fearlessjoebanzai]

An unusually large jawbone found in Somerset? Just sounds typical of a yocal to me!

[@jdr9419]

Exciting about the mandible.

[@stevejohnson3357]

What caused the bread to be abandoned? Past it's best before date.

[@VWHybrid]

I’ve been following that Reddit thread; it’s been wild!

[@takenname8053]

We should finish cooking that bread

[@FrancisFjordCupola]

"Only one plushy was harmed during the recording of this video..."

[@UnwrittenSpade]

I love that Jurassic park shirt!

[@michaelllanell2486]

11-50M in length is crazy

[@jumpjumpdiegaming]

That shirt is very detailed. It much have cost a lot of money!!!

[@robertweissburg5504]

Note: 15 Billion miles away, not million

[@calvingrondahl1011]

I like your shirt Ben! Salute from Dinosaur Park in Utah, USA.

[@Cryptic_Bigfoot]

I love the Icthyosaur plushie!

[@sno4439]

I'm pretty sure the crown of Thorn starfish is an invasive species

[@thundershadow]

The moon obviously plays a part in supplying a magnetic field to Earth. If Venus had a similarly sized moon it would probably have a magnetic field. Mars likewise if it had a larger moon it would probably have a significantly larger magnetic field. It seems like a significant difference to me.

[@PrinzessinSchuhkarton]

Epic… but i just painted an ichthyosaurs and they are really interesting in their biology generally

[@olsamthememegodbicyclechin]

what a shirt ben !!

[@cheekarp2180]

Nice shirt!

[@koi---]

Sounds like the new discovered snake compared to titanaboa could be something like comparing reticulated python (being technically the largest because of length) & the anaconda which is much girthier but not as long

[@SuperLoops]

theres probably some older bread at the backve my kitchen cupboard

[@thesunexpress]

Have travertine tile floors throughout my home, will be looking very closely at them now!

[@_will795]

Dude that shirt is absolutely amazing! Give it to me 🤨

[@sharkchaos5160]

Great video.

[@bdpage2023]

I know. Forgot to close the blinds and my neighbor saw me get out of the shower.

[@thomaszaccone3960]

What does a 100 foot ichthyosaur eat ? Thus was an awesome episode!

[@Your_Degenerate]

That Dolphinsaurus sounds interesting.

[@rimasippy3757]

vasuki indicus 🤗🤗🤗

[@kaelhooten8468]

Snakes are like whales. They are limited in size on land. But occasionally they reach giant sizes in long lived tropical aquatic habitats. Tube-whale

[@patreekotime4578]

Land whales are EXTREMELY limited.

[@andreagriffiths3512]

Very interesting week in science. Not sure I’d like to find a jawbone in my flooring mind you.

[@theorangegolfball2176]

Ronnie Reptile would flip hearing this

[@samarthbagwe1736]

Its crazy they say its 6 times the size of Titanoboa And Its even crazier because the Ancient Hindu scripts mention the Name Vasuki snake

[@neilharrison9144]

Thought Australias just had a huge recovery of coral

[@darthcheney7447]

I'd be fascinated in knowing what Ichthyotitan ate to achieve such a huge size.

[@bryanbeast8662]

Gotta love the discovery of petrified puke! Eeeew!

[@thralldumehammer]

I need earplugs to look at your shirt 😂

[@alistercaddy1208]

I don't know, I got some pretty old bread in my fridge...

[@kyrab7914]

The wandering icthyasaur is the best co host. Ben needs more practice accommodating his co host I think. Also I am VERY interested in both giant snake and hominid jaw, this is a great week for science for me

[@patrickbrown1727]

What is a general timeframe id be looking at if I wanted to go back to school for something paleontology related? I would just love to be out there literally digging for fossils. Just that part of the job would be enough for me

[@michaelbotts5496]

I know somebody already corrected you but yeah 15 billion miles away

[@davidfiore4677]

Another giant prehistoric snake discovered?!? Sounds like Titanoboa and Gigantophis have some competition.

[@randomlyswatching9481]

It's larger 😊