A giant ‘snake skeleton’, found on Google Maps, has generated a huge buzz online.
Exploring the world through Google Maps can help you discover some weird, wonderful and whacky things – but the spotting of a huge ‘snake skeleton’ in France has created a buzz like no other.
According to the Independent, a TikTok account called @googlemapsfun shares videos of things they have found while exploring Google Maps. On March 24, the account shared a video of a giant snake-like object found off the coast of France.
“Somewhere in France, we can see something giant you can only see with satellites, hidden on Google Earth,” the account states. “Users believe this to be a giant snake. It’s about 30 metres long and bigger than any snake caught before.”
The account also suggested that the snake skeleton could be that of the extinct Titanoboa – a genus of extremely large snakes.
While the video has gone viral with over 2 million views on TikTok, and there is indeed a snake-like object that can be seen on Google Maps (you can check it out here), there is more to this story than meets the eye.
An investigation into the viral clip by Snopes found that the ‘snake skeleton’ is actually a “large, metallic sculpture that’s known as Le Serpent d’Ocean.” The sculpture is located on the west coast of France and measures a whopping 425 feet.
Le Serpent d'océan est une immense sculpture (130m) de l'artiste Huang Yong Ping, principalement composée d'aluminium. A découvrir à Saint-Brevin-les-Pins en France.#PaysDeLaLoire #SaintNazaireRenversante #ErenJaeger
👇Full YouTube video #widerfocushttps://t.co/U61apdbEk4 pic.twitter.com/0nHGPmhhvR
— Wider Focus (@WiderFocus) February 28, 2022
Le Serpent d’Ocean was unveiled in 2012 as part of the Estuaire art exhibition. It was created by Chinese-French artist Huang Yong Ping, reports Atlas Obscura.
