Fossil Snake Found Eating Baby Dinosaur
March 3rd, 2010 - 8:55 pm ICT by GDBy Madhuri Dey
Mar 3, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Sanajeh Indicus is the name given to the fossil of the giant snake, 3.5 meter in length, that is believed to have lived in the Jurassic era, and fed on the giant creatures that roamed the world at that point of time, the dinosaurs. One of the very few creatures that is known to have attacked the giant reptiles- other than those belonging to that species- the fossil of the snake was discovered by a member of the Geological Survey of India, Dr. Dhananjay Mahabey. It is estimated by the researchers that the fossil must be at least 67 million years old.
The surprising part is that the fossil has not been discovered very recently. In fact, it had been found way back in 1987, but it was not before 2001 that it was comprehended by the scientists in the United States that the fossil also contained a snake lying among the dinosaur eggs. Reconstructing the entire scenario, the scientists suggest that it is possibly that the snake had been just about to feed on a hatchling that was about to come out of one of the eggs, when it had been struck by some natural disaster, so that it died, along with the eggs.
The scientists suggest that possibly, the snake had not possessed any of the properties that help modern snakes to swallow large objects. However, the snakes were probably capable of eating dinosaur hatchlings, like the one in the fossil. According to the researchers, the discovery is the first insight into the eating habits of primitive snakes. It probably fed on sauropods, the species that the fossil was found with.
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Tags: baby dinosaur, dey, dhananjay, dinosaur eggs, dinosaurs, eating habits, first insight, fossil snake, geological survey of india, giant creatures, giant reptiles, giant snake, hatchling, hatchlings, indicus, jurassic era, madhuri, million years, natural disaster, snakes