Fossils found in northeastern Colombia's Cerrejon coal mine indicate the reptile, dubbed Titanoboa cerrejonesis, was at least 42 feet (13 meters) long and weighed 2,500 pounds (1,135 kilograms). previously the biggest snake known was Gigantophis garstini, which was 36 to 38 feet (11 to 11.6 meters) long. That snake lived in North Africa about 40 million years ago. it lived when the tropics were much warmer than they are today. The snake would have killed its prey by slow suffocation wrapping around it and squeezing, just like a modern python or boa. Only this snake was twice the size of today's largest constrictors.