When Lizards Ruled Prehistoric Australia
Lizards are already interesting reptiles, but I would say that a star group would have to be the Varanidae family. These lizards include monitor lizards, as well as the largest living lizard, the Komodo Dragon. However, the Komodo Dragon is only the largest lizard of today, what about the largest lizard in history?
That's what we'll cover today! A dedicated Case Study to Australia's Megalania.
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I do not own any of the footage and images utilized, they belong to their respected sources.
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astrapionte
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:30 Origins
1:43 Physical Attributes
4:11 Distribution
5:02 Hunting
7:54 Competitors
10:20 Extinction
11:43 Conclusion
Sources
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van der Kaars, S., Miller, G., Turney, C. et al. Humans rather than climate the primary cause of Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in Australia. Nat Commun 8, 14142 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14142
Gilbert J. Price, Julien Louys, Jonathan Cramb, Yue-xing Feng, Jian-xin Zhao, Scott A. Hocknull, Gregory E. Webb, Ai Duc Nguyen, Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Temporal overlap of humans and giant lizards (Varanidae; Squamata) in Pleistocene Australia, Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 125, 2015, Pages 98-105, ISSN 0277-3791,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2....
Sharp, A.C. and Rich, T.H. (2016), Cranial biomechanics, bite force and function of the endocranial sinuses in Diprotodon optatum, the largest known marsupial. J. Anat., 228: 984-995. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12456
Price, Gilbert J.; Louys, Julien; Cramb, Jonathan; Feng, Yue-xing; Zhao, Jian-xin; Hocknull, Scott A.; Webb, Gregory E.; Nguyen, Ai Duc; Joannes-Boyau, Renaud (2015-10-01). "Temporal overlap of humans and giant lizards (Varanidae; Squamata) in Pleistocene Australia". Quaternary Science Reviews. 125: 98–105. Bibcode:2015QSRv..125...98P. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.08.013.
Hocknull, S.A., Lewis, R., Arnold, L.J. et al. Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration. Nat Commun 11, 2250 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15...
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#animals #megafauna #megalania #lizard #dinosaur #prehistoric