Laophis crotaloides was a species of giant viper that lived in what is now Greece some 4 million years ago. Known mostly from vertebrae first discovered by the father of paleontology Sir Richard Owen (the very person who coined the word dinosaur), Laophis would've been the largest viper ever, measuring up to 13 feet long and weighing up to 57 pounds. By comparison, modern king cobras could measure nearly twice as long but weigh three times less. In life, it would've resembled other vipers such as rattlesnakes and rhinoceros vipers with wide, spade-shaped heads and thick, muscular bodies. It was large enough to eat small deer but likely subsisted on a diet of rodents and other small animals.
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