Why a third of humanity is afraid of snakes and the truth about giant reptiles that ate whales and prehistoric dinosaurs

Millions of years ago, the creatures that dominated the land and water were not dinosaurs but giant reptiles.
According to Gary Meaney, carnivore expert*

Humans and the fear of snakes exist in the genetics Few people know that, ophidiophobia or the horrible obsession with snakes and round, long, legless animals in general is the most common fear in human society (1/3 of humanity is afraid of snakes). In addition, scientists have confirmed: Most primates have inherited the instinct to… be afraid and run away from snakes. The reason, prehistoric people were so afraid of snakes because they had to face giant carnivorous reptiles, not hostages like now. First is Titanoboa cerrejonensis : Nearly 13m long, weighing about 1 ton, is considered the largest snake species discovered by man However, some studies indicate that Titanoboa was a piscivore rather than a megafauna-killer. So, is it a giant but gentle animal? Titanoboa cerrejonensis. Before humans left records of Titanoboa, the title of giant snake was given Gigantophis garstini They appeared about 20 million years after Titanoboa in Africa with a length of about 11m. Gigantophis’ favorite food was the ancestor of the modern world’s elephants. Gigantophis garstini. Madtsoia madagascariensis: Giant snake that specializes in eating dinosaurs Gigantophis’ close relative is Madtsoia madagascariensis , another giant snake that lived in Madagascar for several million years during the age of the dinosaurs. They lived with iconic dinosaurs like Majungasaurus , Masiakasaurus and Rahonavis as well as giant frogs Beelzebufo . And perhaps, Madtsoia is also more than enough to eat all the dinosaurs mentioned above. Madtsoia madagascariensis. Both Madtsoia and Gigantophis belong to the ancient family of giant snakes known as the Madtsoiids. Both of these genera lived long ago, but some survived until recently in Australia. Until Wonambi naracoortensis , a snake more than 6m long has inspired the legend of the Rainbow Snake of primitive Australians This size seems modest compared to the previous monsters, but it is still significantly larger when compared to the Anaconda python. Furthermore, over time it has coexisted with giant kangaroos, marsupial lions and primitive Australians – it may have inspired the Rainbow Serpent legend. mythical animals of Australia). Rainbow Snake, one of the mythical animals of Australia. Yurlunggur camfieldensis , a reptile that the Yurlungur aborigines believe is made of bronze, specializes in hunting virgins Living in the same period and place as Wonambi is a species Yurlunggur camfieldensis. They are named after the Yurlungur Aboriginal mythology – which tells of a bronze snake excited by the smell of a young girl’s menstrual blood that would come to eat her and her family. Yurlunggur is said to be up to 8m long and is a self-burrowing aquatic species. They will hunt underwater but live in burrows with soft ground. Though non-poisonous, the terrifying force of the contractions would kill their prey, similar to most pythons today. Yurlunggur camfieldensis. Palaeophiidae, Giant water snake up to 10m long, specializing in eating whales and prehistoric sharks Come to another ancient genus of giant snakes, Palaeophiidae of the genus Palaeophiid . Palaeophiidae evolved over 70 million years ago, and like the Madtsoiids, they survived the K-PG Great Extinction. Similar to modern sea snakes, Palaeophiidae lived entirely in water, only much larger. According to researcher Gary Meaney, Palaeophis colossaeus New is the scariest of all – it can hunt whales, giant sharks in the Eocene waters. It is very large, up to 10m long. Palaeophis colossaeus. Pterosphenus , a giant warm-blooded snake, much more active than a cold-blooded reptile Another branch of the Palaeophiid genus, Pterosphenus , which is also horrifying in size: 7m. In addition, these are giant sea snakes that have the ability to reproduce early and have a warm-blooded metabolism, making them more active than many other slow reptile monsters. Pterosphenus. To the giant, tens of meters long reptiles that dominate the earth During the Pliocene (geological period), did the Australian continent exist the giant python Bluff Downs or Liasis dubungila – one of the few prehistoric animals with a common name. It is more than 10m long and is considered the largest snake ever of this continent. Bluff Downs or Liasis dubungila. In prehistoric times, branches of the python family also gained horological dimensions. One of them is Chubutophis grandis, estimated at 22m in length. And if that’s true, Titanoboa will lose the title of the largest snake in history. They lived in the Miocene with a host of giant South American creatures: Elephant-sized Caimans, giant gharials, giant tigers and giant turtles… Chubutophis grandis. Finally, let’s come to the largest venomous snake known: Laophis , closely resembles the poisonous Gabon viper, which lived on the Greek islands during the Pliocene. According to scientists, it weighs twice as much as the largest venomous snakes of the modern world, more than 4m long. This size has nothing to do with the reptiles listed above, but they are not poisonous… Laophis. As such, Titanoboa was the only nightmare snake that slithered around in ancient times. It may be the biggest, but it’s probably not the scariest.