Megalania

Megalania

The megalania (Megalania prisca or Varanus priscus), sometimes called the giant ripper lizard, was a very large goanna or monitor lizard, now extinct. It was part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene. It seems to have disappeared around 40,000 years ago. The first aboriginal settlers of Australia may have encountered living megalanias.

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