Taiwan’s largest snake fossil found in TainanBy Rachel Lin and Hollie Younger / Staff reporter, with staff writerTaiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. Photo courtesy of Tsai Cheng-hsiuThe area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. The python fossil was donated to Tsai by private collector L.R. The paper, “An Unexpected Snake Fossil,” was published in Historical Biology in January.

Source: Taipei Times March 09, 2026 10:19 UTC