Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dr. Ralph Molnar has written a book on the greatest largest goanna of all time, Megalania prisca - the Australian goanna nightmare as it were, weighing a ton or more, 16 feet in length and fed on aborigines and marsupials alike...available November 15th from local big bookshops....

Cheers, enjoy,
mark bayless

I forgot to add the title!
mkb

That and I ordered "feathered dragons- from dinosaurs to birds".

Is the Megalania prisca the same varanid that cryptozoologists are speculating may still exist in the most barron parts of the australian outback? There have been some accounts of sightings of a "giant" goanna which matches the size description that mark mentioned, over the past century. I would assume that recent reports of this "giant" goanna is nothing more than a big lace or perentie which was blown out of proportions for good story-telling's sake. But who knows? The U.S military dredged up a fish that was thought to be extinct for millions of years, who's to say that such an animal doesn't exist, or big foot for that matter...lol. Has anybody else heard about this?? I know I saw it on a television show about cryptozoology; but I can't remember if it was on discovery, animal planet, or pbs.

bob

Hi Bob,

Yes, the program on Megalania was on "Into the Unknown" series on Discovery channel and Jeff Corwin did a brief segment on it, and Arthur C. Clarke back in early 1990's actually filmed such a giant Goanna on the Fly River, PNG - there are 'stories' throughout Indonesia/Malaysia of a giant varanid - I am actually writing a paper on stories on giant goannas and varanid worship around the World throughout history now....and Megalania was a big girl - she ate aborigines and marsupial giants too.

Rex gilroy wrote at length of sightings of megalania - and are of interest to read (however Rex is an admitted teller of tales and fibbed some of his findings in his books, so one must look to other accounts for the truth, and they become far less scant than before, but the stories persist. There is a report or two of a giant goanna in PNG, and most of the surrounding islands have specific tales of this animal. Maybe it is still alive? I'ld love to see one first-hand....

Cheers,
mbayless