Giant frog gets new friend: Titanoboa

Well, the ancient giant "frog from hell" finally has some company! As reported by Nature, scientists have recently unearthed the world's biggest snake fossil. The snake, thought to have been about 42 feet long and have weighed 2,500 pounds (!), lived about 60 million years ago in northeastern Colombia. Primarily aquatic, the snake could slither on land and is thought to have crushed its prey like a modern day boa constrictor.

So what did this mammoth monster eat? Probably crocodiles or fish, according to an article written by TimesOnline environment reporter Lewis Smith. Based upon the size of these cold-blooded creatures, scientists are hypothesizing that the earth must have been quite warm back then, over 7 degrees F hotter than today's average temperatures.

Now, I realize that the giant frog was hopping around Africa some ten million years earlier than the giant snake went cruising along in South America. But doesn't it make you wonder what our planet looked like so many millions of years ago? (How big were the bugs?!)

Giant frog fossil found in Madagascar

Earlier this year, Brian Handwerk of National Geographic News reported on a “Giant ‘Frog From Hell’ Fossil Found in Madagascar.” According to this report, scientists have been unearthing a giant frog fossil for the last ten years and have finally put the pieces together. When alive, they think that this 70 million year old specimen was over a foot high and weighed ten pounds.

Think about that for a minute. What if this frog were alive today? Imagine the croak from a ten-pound frog! Picture a gigantic frog romping through your flower garden. The scientists studying super frog think that it was aggressive and would pretty much attack anything that came near it. Yikes!

So far, giant “frog from hell” is the only known one of its kind. But that the neat thing about science ... you never know what might be unearthed next!