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20 Francs Titanoboa, colourized
| Issuer | Banque Centrale du Congo |
|---|---|
| Year | 2023 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents a vivid full-colour scene depicting the prehistoric giant snake Titanoboa cerrejonensis coiled in a naturalistic Paleocene landscape, its massive scaled body rendered in warm earth tones of olive, amber, and brown. A large crocodilian is depicted in the upper left field, confronted by the serpent in a dramatic prehistoric encounter set amid rocky terrain and lush green vegetation. The series title PREHISTORIC LIFE is inscribed along the upper border of a raised rim band, with the species identification TITANOBOA 60-58 MIO YEARS BC and the issue year 2023 inscribed in the upper field. Geological epoch references — CRETACEOUS 145-66 MIO. YEARS BC, TERTIARY 66-2.6 MIO. YEARS BC, and QUATERNARY 2.6 MIO. YEARS BC-TODAY — are inscribed around the inner border of the rim, providing a chronological context for the subject. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
The Titanoboa — Titanoboa cerrejonensis — was excavated from the Cerrejón coal mine in northern Colombia beginning in 2009, its fossilized vertebrae initially mistaken for oversized turtle bones. Estimates place the living animal at roughly 13 meters and over a tonne, making it the largest known snake in the evolutionary record. It has no connection whatsoever to the Congo Basin.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has issued a substantial run of wildlife-themed bullion and collector coinage under foreign licensing arrangements, many featuring fauna entirely unrelated to central Africa. KM#389.1 is part of that commercially driven program.