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Titanoboa: New York's Grand Central Terminal Displays Model Of Biggest Snake Ever (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

The Huffington Post  |  By Posted: 03/22/2012 1:59 pm Updated: 03/22/2012 4:15 pm

Titanoboa

Titanoboa, the biggest snake that ever lived, is taking a bite out of the Big Apple.

Well, not quite. But a scientifically realistic, life-sized model of the long-extinct serpent has taken up residence in New York City' Grand Central Terminal. The model represents a 48-foot titanoboa that would have weighed a ton and a half, according to a written statement issued by the Smithsonian Channel.

The channel is scheduled to premiere Titanoboa: Monster Snake, a two-hour special about the colossal constrictor, on Sunday, April 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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The snake model is intended to "scare the daylights out of people" in an effort to "communicate science to a lot of people," Smithsonian spokesman Randall Kremer said, the International Business Times reported.

The model is based on a fossilized bone of a titanoboa that was discovered in a Colombian Coal mine in 2002, according to the statement. It is scheduled to remain at the terminal today and tomorrow, Friday, March 23, and then go on display on the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

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Titanoboa, the biggest snake that ever lived, is taking a bite out of the Big Apple. Well, not quite. But a scientifically realistic, life-sized model of the long-extinct serpent has taken up resi...
Titanoboa, the biggest snake that ever lived, is taking a bite out of the Big Apple. Well, not quite. But a scientifically realistic, life-sized model of the long-extinct serpent has taken up resi...
 
 
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05:25 PM on 04/02/2012
Remember the Harry Potter snake, a Basilisk? Could it be?
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barrett
It's easier to stay out than get out
10:30 PM on 03/31/2012
The conversation back then:
He: I think you're really hot!
She: Oh, don't be so obvious... you're just like a snake in the grass.
Genders
Love, Tolerance, Enlightenment
10:19 PM on 03/31/2012
The Devil is a snake! it's our spine! Snake that spine...
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cuoi
I wish everyone happiness.
10:54 AM on 03/31/2012
Got them large economy sized snakes in Florida. Could soon be a alligator shortage...
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
killerbee256
12:27 AM on 03/30/2012
To think that thing evolved from a small lizard! (as all snakes did)
Danilo-11
Death penalty is unconstitutional
01:41 PM on 03/26/2012
And then Hollywood is going to use their magic to make people think that it could move 1000 times faster than it actually did.
01:06 PM on 03/26/2012
Read the Obama prophecies at prophecies org and be shocked at what is coming next, it is not a pretty picture friends. America is in really big trouble. Obama is the biggest snake to ever occupy the White House.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
CadOps
A small blue dot, in a big red state
02:27 PM on 03/26/2012
Small mind?
Old gray Anglo men have been in charge forever.
The new kid shows up and you blame him for what has been going on for 200 years.

So i guess you think that before he got in, the country was nothing but candy, free money from the sky, no wars no sick or needy?

Hear that sound.
Thats your alarm clock going off.
Time to wake up.
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lovinlife2
Quite a journey we're on here
08:49 PM on 03/27/2012
Spot on, Ops! Faved.
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cuoi
I wish everyone happiness.
10:52 AM on 03/31/2012
I see your reptilian part of your brain at work...you need to work through your basil ganglia for higher brain functions...
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PoliticallyAffiliated
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
12:20 PM on 03/26/2012
Ewwie...
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gradyguy
10:50 AM on 03/26/2012
How did these experts figure out how big this extinct bad boy was, what he looked like, color, etc, from one fossilized bone? Sounds like some guessing went into this.
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DrTachyon
Baby, please! I am not from Havana.
05:31 PM on 03/26/2012
The article is mistaken. There are several vertebra, and possibly some other material, its been a while since I read the article in Nature. In any event, its a trivial matter to compare a specific bone of an extinct animal to a closely related living one and estimate it's size. Perhaps they are off by a foot or two, so what. It's a huge fricking snake, you skepticism over it's size is weirdly misplaced.
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mds308
America. Love it or Leave it to Beaver.
10:32 AM on 03/26/2012
The biggest snake in recent history belonged to John Holmes.
10:36 AM on 03/26/2012
now thats funny.
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lovinlife2
Quite a journey we're on here
08:51 PM on 03/27/2012
Johnny "Wad,"my fav!
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10:32 AM on 03/26/2012
"Snakes.......I really hate snakes"
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lovinlife2
Quite a journey we're on here
08:52 PM on 03/27/2012
That's Freudian, Lar.
10:09 AM on 03/26/2012
we need it clone it same as the mammoth big things will feed more folks
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09:23 AM on 03/26/2012
Didn't Harry Potter kill one of those things?
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frizzy140
moderate in an extreme world
09:11 AM on 03/26/2012
all i can think of is all of the shoes the purses that snake skin could make for me....
08:57 AM on 03/26/2012
all you could do here was to find a tight spot and wedge up in it...
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lovinlife2
Quite a journey we're on here
08:54 PM on 03/27/2012
Uumm! Something stimulating about that.
09:52 PM on 03/27/2012
and don't forget the embrace he had...