The discovery of the first fossil snake in Israel, a marine snake some 80-100 million years old, has been reported by Prof. George Haas of the zoology department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This is not only the first fossil snake found in Israel, but also a rare find in the whole world because of the excellent preservation of its skull. The snake’s length is estimated by the university’s experts at five to six feet long.
The fossil was found in the hills of Jerusalem, an area where fossils of a variety of fish had been found in the past in stone tablets from the Cretaceous period. Crabs, mollusks, sea urchins and starfish have all been found in excellent condition in the same area.
One of the astonishing finds in recent years was the discovery of turtle fossils with their shells beautifully preserved in stone. Turtles similar to the fossilized ones found here are alive today in Central and South America and in Madagascar. Haas is now studying the exact identity of the newly-found fossil snake at his Hebrew University laboratory.
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