c. 200 thousand years ago, southeast Queensland.
The monstrous lizard Megalania noisily advertises its territory near the skull of a dead Diprotodon. Megalania prisca was a giant carnivorous lizard with an adult length about between 3.5 and 4.5 metres (suggestions of 7 m are probably overestimates). It was a varanid, belonging to the same family as the living goannas, monitors and komodo dragon. In all likelihood, it will eventually be grouped in the modern day genus Varanus with the rest of the family.
This reptile was the largest terrestrial predator of Pleistocene Australia and was probably a rather unpleasant surprise for the first humans to arrive on the continent. Aside from its size, Megalania was notable for a ridge-like crest on the back of its skull.
The skull belongs to Diprotodon optatum which was the largest marsupial to have ever lived and Australia's biggest land animal since the time of the dinosaurs. Recent estimates suggest that this herbivore attained a weight of 2.7 tonnes. Fossil remains of this creature have been found across Australia with the largest skeleton on display at the Western Australian Museum in Perth (which I personally assembled - the skeleton not the museum).
The monstrous lizard Megalania noisily advertises its territory near the skull of a dead Diprotodon. Megalania prisca was a giant carnivorous lizard with an adult length about between 3.5 and 4.5 metres (suggestions of 7 m are probably overestimates). It was a varanid, belonging to the same family as the living goannas, monitors and komodo dragon. In all likelihood, it will eventually be grouped in the modern day genus Varanus with the rest of the family.
This reptile was the largest terrestrial predator of Pleistocene Australia and was probably a rather unpleasant surprise for the first humans to arrive on the continent. Aside from its size, Megalania was notable for a ridge-like crest on the back of its skull.
The skull belongs to Diprotodon optatum which was the largest marsupial to have ever lived and Australia's biggest land animal since the time of the dinosaurs. Recent estimates suggest that this herbivore attained a weight of 2.7 tonnes. Fossil remains of this creature have been found across Australia with the largest skeleton on display at the Western Australian Museum in Perth (which I personally assembled - the skeleton not the museum).
