Showing posts with label lizard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lizard. Show all posts

Lace Monitor - Australiana

The Lace Monitor lizards in an Australiana icon.
There are several kinds of goanna in Australia. The largest is the Lace Monitor, Varannus varius. It lives in trees and in summer it is very active hunting for food. In winter it slows down and spends its days resting in hollows in trees.
Lace Monitor
They often hang around picnickers looking for food scraps. Some people fear goannas, but for the most part the reptile is harmless - they could hardly swallow a human whole. They would rather run than bite a large living animal: their main target is carrion.

When male Lace Monitors mate they go through the set patterns of who is the strongest to get the female.  Having young is an easy matter. A female lays her eggs in a termites nests which stays at a steady 31°C.

Aboriginals used goanna oil to ease body pain and as a protective layer on wounds. Early European settlers used the oil on guns as it was a good substitute for standard lubricating oil.   Goanna linament does not contain any Goanna oil because killing the animal is illegal. This stops the oil being put to test - folk lore says that if put in a glass jar it will seep through the bottom and be underneath in the morning. Rogue research shows this claim to be right. This is a very interesting property and could possible be put to a good use!

Anyway, we will have to live with the saying: "Flat out like a lizard drinking". Yes, their tongues move very fast when they drink water.
 
lace, monitor, lizard, flat out like a lizard drinking, flat, out, like, lizard, drinking, reptile, australian, picnickers, carrion, food, trees, live

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Man Lived Alongside Giant Lizards

Humans lived alongside giant lizards. Some would say we still do. Doesn't the Komodo dragon still exist in Indonesia? Australian Aboriginals did have to fear an attack by giant killer lizards. A fossil has been found in north Queensland near Rockhampton.
Human hunting a giant Megalania monitor Megalania prisca Komoda lizard
Scientists are sure that giant lizards existed on this continent. The fossil is only about one-centimeter square. Radiocarbon dating shows the animal is 50,000 years old.  Giant lizards were thought to go back to 80,000 years.

Debate continues whether the lizard is a Komodo or a giant Megalania monitor, Megalania prisca. This is not that important. It does show that Man coexisted with a very large dangerous reptile. It would have made life difficult during the day for ancient humans. Dragons cannot run as fast but they do a good job of ambush, pouncing on unsuspecting prey.
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giant Megalania monitor Megalania prisca komoda lizard man humans coexisted hunted
GIANT KILLER LIZARD LIVED WITH HUMANS
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New Lizard Found in Australia

Something has been living out there without our knowledge. Yes, it could be called a monster - a very small one. It is in fact a new species of lizard. A team of scientists from the University of Adelaide has discovered a new kind of Varanus lizard.

It was found living in a remote part of the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia. Consequently, it has named the Dampier Peninsula goanna (Varanus sparnus). There are now a total of 77 species of the "genus Varanus". Sparnus is the smallest found so far.

The lizard burrows under the ground beneath hard surface objects like stone and wood. Not much is known about its living habits because it moves very fast. The new species seems to be localized, existing only on the Dampier Peninsula. There are no doubt more currently unknown animals in the region.
✴ Biology by Ty Buchanan ✴
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Safe Food

"This looks like a safe place to hide."
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Funny Animal Photos
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Ancient Marsupial Found With Specialised Teeth for Eating Snails

Evidence of the existence of specialised ancient marsupials have been found in Australia. They had teeth that were "hammer-like" for crushing snail shells. Lizards living today in rain forests have similar teeth. They had premolars like the teeth in humans located between the molars and canines. Researchers could not determine at first what the strange teeth were used for. It was the first time that such teeth had been found in marsupials.

Like the Tasmanian tiger a marsupial which filled the role of native dog in Australia, so this marsupial more than 10 million years ago, lived in the niche that the pink-tongued skink holds today. This wet rain forest lizard is quite large, about 40 cm in length, so it's ancestor would have been a tough competitor.

The extinct marsupial became extinct when the weather changed in Australia and inland rain forests receded toward the coast. Lizards could survive in the new environment. The marsupial could not.

Riversleigh in northern Australia, a rich source of marsupial fossils, was where the find was made. Indication are that the marsupial was not plentiful even in prehistoric times because so few fossils of the animal have been found.
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