Megalania prisca
The Megalania prisca was a giant monitor lizard. The Komodo Dragon is roughly the size of a lion, but Megalania was bigger than an average dairy cow. Megalania has been extinct since the Ice Age. However, it has purportedly been sighted many times in the last century, and some sightings suggest that it lives also in New Guinea.The name Megalania prisca means the "ancient giant butcher", and this may certainly have been a fitting description for this large carnivore. Megalania belonged to the family that includes the goannas, or monitor lizards, the largest of which today is the Komodo Dragon found in Indonesia. Fossils of Megalania are comparatively rare. No complete skeleton has ever ever found. However several partial skeletons and other elements have allowed scientists to determine the size and structure of the animal. The large skull was equipped with numerous recurved, scimitar-like teeth.
Fossil skeletons suggests Megalania was a stocky animal, much more bulky than the Komodo Dragon and probably at least one third longer (4 to 5 metres). Like its modern counterparts Megalania probably scavenged from dead animals, but would have also been able to hunt and kill large prey. Komodo Dragons hunt by ambush and have been known to kill large deer, buffalo and even people. Whether Megalania killed Diprotodon, the largest of the megafauna is a matter of speculation; however, it was probably capable of doing so.
It would also have competed for prey with other large carnivores such as the Marsupial Lion, Thylacoleo carnifex. The fossil record indicates that the geographic range of Megalania was quite broad including sites in Queensland, central Australia and New South Wales. Until recently this animal was not thought to have inhabited the southern part of the continent. However a fossil found at Naracoorte in 2000 extends its range much further.
It is a beloved animal for cryptozoologists.