This ancient snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton

By CHRISTINA LARSON
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Researchers in India have found fossils of an ancient giant snake that could have been longer than a school bus. The bones found near a coal mine revealed a snake that stretched an estimated 36 to 50 feet. That’s comparable to the largest known snake at about 42 feet that once lived in what is now Colombia. The newly discovered behemoth lived 47 million years ago in western India’s swampy evergreen forests. Researchers reported Thursday that the snake could have weighed up to a ton. They compared the fossils to skeletons of living snakes to estimate its size.