Scientists recently learned that snakes have been around a lot longer than previously believed.
In their time on the planet snakes have developed some truly impressive abilities in the areas of survival, self-defense, and freaking people out.
Scientists recently learned that the slithering creatures have had a whole lot more time to hone those skills than previously believed.
The dating of fossils gathered from forgotten museum archives throughout the world has shown that snakes have been alive and well for nearly 170 million years.
That’s about 70 million longer than once thought.
Evidence of their longevity came from 4 different specimens.
Not only does the discovery extend the timeline of snakes’ existence, it calls into question previous theories about their evolution. (1,5,2)
It was widely believed that the reptiles developed 100 million years ago as an offshoot of lizards, but the dates of such a happening no longer match up.
All 4 of the specimens studied had alrea
