Bluff Downs Giant Python

  • Updated
    30/06/26
  • Read time
    2 minutes
Australia's extinct snake, Bluff Downs Giant Python - Liasis species Click to enlarge image
Bluff Downs Giant Python (Liasis species) is estimated to have grown to 10m, making it at least a metre longer than the world's two longest snakes - the Anaconda of South America and the Reticulated Python of Asia. Image: B Duckworth
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Species
    Liasis
  • Size Range
    Length: 10m

The Bluff Downs Giant Python was the largest Australian snake ever. It lived 4 million years ago, early Pliocene.

Identification

The Bluff Downs Giant Python hunted mammals, birds and reptiles in the woodlands and vine thickets bordering Australian watercourses during Pliocene times. Its nearest living relative is the Olive Python, Liasis olivacea.

The Bluff Downs Giant Python is estimated to have grown to 10m, making it at least a metre longer than the world's two longest snakes - the Anaconda of South America and the Reticulated Python of Asia.

Fossil site

Fossilised backbones, teeth and rib fragments of the Bluff Downs Python were found in 1992 at Bluff Downs in north-eastern Queensland.