It was evil, evil looking and it had a horrible stench I'll never forget.

[Dr. Dalek]

Anyone remember last year when an Australian hunter shot what DNA tests revealed to be a giant feral cat[/url']?

No.

[JohnB]

Anyone remember last year when an Australian hunter shot what DNA tests revealed to be a giant feral cat?

Yes. The story was treated (rightly) with general scepticism from day one. The cat and person in the photo were placed so that you could not easily get a sense of scale. Rather than next to, the person was behind the cat (which was hanging by it's tail) so it was hard to judge how far behind the cat the person was.

 

A far better photo would have the cat stretched out next to the rifle to give an objective measurement.

There are currently lots of stories by locals about super-huge lizards they've seen

And some plaster casts of really big footprints. (Which prove nothing, it could be a cast from a dino footprint fossil, or just a fake.)

 

Strangely enough, the topic of Megalania has come up a couple of times at work. The general view was that if a biologist actually found one, it would be better to hide the discovery. There are far too many idiots out there who would try to bag one as a trophy. Best idea would be to declate the area off limits as a habitat for the extremely rare "Yellow-Breasted Bushy-Nosed Rock Jumping Wallaby" and let the lizards live, and the biologists work, in peace.

 

While in Cryptozoology when you see smoke there is normally a mirror, with some of the things that have happened over the years, I'm not convinced there may not be a fire somewhere.

[Mokele]

The general view was that if a biologist actually found one, it would be better to hide the discovery. There are far too many idiots out there who would try to bag one as a trophy. Best idea would be to declate the area off limits as a habitat for the extremely rare "Yellow-Breasted Bushy-Nosed Rock Jumping Wallaby" and let the lizards live, and the biologists work, in peace.

 

Well, to be honest, I'd be less afraid of hunters getting them than smugglers finding a nest and 4 months later seeing an ad on the reptile forums I visit for "baby super-lizards". With all the idiotic things people keep, that wouldn't be a big jump.

 

Mokele

[bascule]

Cryptozoologists are those with too little knowledge of biology and too much gullibility to actually do *real* biology.

 

Didn't Kent "Dr. Dino" Hovind consider himself a cryptozoologist, looking for those elusive dinosaurs that all those ignorant evolutionists claim haven't existed for 65 million years?

[JohnB]

Well, to be honest, I'd be less afraid of hunters getting them than smugglers finding a nest and 4 months later seeing an ad on the reptile forums I visit for "baby super-lizards".

It would be easy to find anyone who bought one. Just look for an area where Girl Guides, Avon ladies and Mormons regularly disappear.

 

Seriously though, since they grew to around 10 metres long, ( the specimen in the Queensland Museum is about that long) how much would such a creature need to eat?

[Mokele]

Seriously though, since they grew to around 10 metres long, ( the specimen in the Queensland Museum is about that long) how much would such a creature need to eat?

 

Not as much as you'd think; reptiles are surprisingly fuel-efficient since they don't waste most of it heating their bodies. Several rabbits a week would probably be more than enough for an adult Megalania, especially since captive monitor lizards have an unfortunate tendency towards obesity.

 

Mokele

[JohnB]

That is surprisingly low. Thanks.