The largest lizard. What are the names of the species of the largest and smallest lizards? The largest monitor lizard

Komodo dragon- the largest lizard in the world, its average size is 2.5 m, and its weight is 90 kg. But there are record holders whose length reaches 3 m and weight reaches 150 kg. The huge lizard lives on the Indonesian islands; it was first discovered only in 1912.

The Komodo dragon belongs to the class of reptiles, the subclass of oviparous, and the order of squamates.

To date the most big lizard recognized from this family male 3.13 meters long, weighing 166 kg. Curious, but huge size It is the males who reach it; females, as a rule, do not grow above 1.8 m.

The sight of a huge lizard is intimidating - a massive body covered with stone-colored skin reminiscent of chain mail, large curved teeth, a forked tongue.

Unusual hunt

Komodo lizards are carnivores, so they eat only meat. The diet of young individuals consists mainly of insects, birds, and snakes. Adult monitor lizards hunt for more nutritious prey; forest dwellers become their prey - wild boars, buffalo, deer, more small mammals. There is practically nothing left of the victims - the giant does not disdain hooves, skin and other parts of carcasses that other predators do not eat.

The unusual nature of the hunt lies in the fact that these lizards are able to recognize not only the approach of the prey at a distance of several kilometers, but also sense its taste. Involved in this process forked tongue and organs of the oral cavity that can taste the air.

Large Komodo dragons are not slow, they can run at speeds of 18 km per hour and have very flexible jaw and throat muscles. This structure allows you to quickly swallow large pieces of meat. The stomach is easily and strongly stretched, even accommodates whole carcasses large animals such as pigs.

However, predatory giants rarely swallow entire carcasses. More often they prefer to immobilize the victim, then tear it into pieces and eat it. In alarming situations, the monitor lizard instantly empties its stomach to lighten its weight and escape from the enemy.

Toxicity and infectiousness

Komodo dragon – poisonous creature, the poison is secreted from glands located in lower jaw. The poisonous secretion disrupts blood clotting, reduces blood pressure and body temperature, and causes paralysis of the victim and severe pain.

Even if the unfortunate animal receives a small dose of poison and escapes from the predator’s mouth, it is not destined to escape and survive. Lizard saliva contains more than 50 thousand species of bacteria. The bite leads to blood poisoning and inevitable death in the coming days. The predator constantly monitors the surrounding air and hurries to where the disease finishes off the victim.

The poisonous dragon rarely attacks people, but there have been cases when even children became victims. However, Komodo dragons are protected and it is forbidden to destroy them.

Facts about reproduction

Komodo dragons are capable of asexual reproduction, but only male individuals can appear in this way. Females are born only after natural fertilization.

To protect their offspring from other predators, mothers make false nests and sit there, distracting hunters. At this time, the real eggs are in a different place.

Young lizards are cunning- sensing danger, they repeatedly fall into own feces to publish bad smell. The lizards spend the first four years of their lives in trees, hiding from predators, including the monitor lizards of their family and their own parents, who no longer recognize their offspring.

Growing up to one and a half meters, young dragonets descend and begin to hunt themselves. Adulthood lasts about nine years, and the lifespan of a dragon averages thirty years. But they do not have the same vitality as .

The largest monitor lizard on Earth lives on the Indonesian island of Komodo. The locals nicknamed this large lizard “the last dragon” or “buaya darat”, i.e. "a crocodile crawling on the ground." There are not many Komodo dragons left in Indonesia, so since 1980 this animal has been included in the IUCN.

What does a Komodo dragon look like?

The appearance of the most gigantic lizard on the planet is very interesting - the head is like a lizard, the tail and paws are like an alligator, the muzzle is very reminiscent of a fairy-tale dragon, except that fire does not erupt from its huge mouth, but there is something bewitchingly scary in this animal. An adult Komod monitor lizard weighs over one hundred kilograms and can reach three meters in length. There are known cases when zoologists came across very large and powerful Komodo dragons, weighing one hundred and sixty kilograms.

The skin of monitor lizards is mainly gray with light spots. There are individuals with black skin color and with yellow small drops. The Komodo lizard has strong, “dragon” teeth, all serrated. Just once, looking at this reptile, you can be seriously frightened, since its menacing appearance directly “screams” to be captured or killed. It's no joke, the Komodo dragon has sixty teeth.

This is interesting! If you catch a Komodo giant, the animal will become very excited. From a previously seemingly cute reptile, the monitor lizard can turn into an angry monster. He can easily, with the help of , knock down the enemy who grabbed him, and then mercilessly injure him. Therefore, it is not worth the risk.

If you look at the Komodo dragon and its small legs, you can assume that it moves slowly. However, if the Komodo monitor feels danger, or he spots a worthy victim in front of him, he will immediately try to accelerate to a speed of twenty-five kilometers per hour in a few seconds. One thing can save the victim, fast running, since monitor lizards cannot move quickly for a long time, they become very exhausted.

This is interesting! The news has repeatedly mentioned killer Komodo dragons that attacked people when they were very hungry. There was a case when large monitor lizards They entered villages and, noticing children running away from them, caught up and tore them apart. The following story also happened when a monitor lizard attacked hunters who had shot a deer and were carrying the prey on their shoulders. The monitor lizard bit one of them to take away the desired prey.

Komodo dragons are excellent swimmers. There are eyewitnesses who claim that the lizard was able to swim across the raging sea from one huge island to another within a few minutes. However, to do this, the monitor lizard needed to stop for about twenty minutes and rest, since it is known that monitor lizards get tired quickly

Origin story

People started talking about Komodo dragons at the time when, at the beginning of the 20th century, on the island. Java (Holland) received a telegram from the manager that in the Lesser Sunda Archipelago there live huge, either dragons or lizards, which scientific researchers have not yet heard of. Van Stein from Flores wrote about this, that near the island of Flores and on Komodo there lives a “land crocodile” still incomprehensible to science.

Local residents told Van Stein that monsters inhabit the entire island, they are very ferocious, and they are feared. Such monsters can reach 7 meters in length, but Komodo dragons that are four meters long are more common. Scientists from the Zoological Museum of Java decided to ask Van Stein to gather people from the island and get a lizard that European science did not yet know about.

And the expedition managed to catch a Komodo dragon, but it was only 220 cm tall. Therefore, the searchers decided, at all costs, to get the giant reptiles. And they eventually managed to bring 4 large Komodo crocodiles, each three meters, to the zoological museum.

Later, in 1912, everyone already knew about the existence of the giant reptile from the published almanac, in which a photograph of a huge lizard was printed with the caption “Komodo dragon.” After this article, Komodo dragons also began to be found in the vicinity of Indonesia, on several islands. However, only after the Sultan’s archives were studied in detail, it became known that giant foot-and-mouth disease was known as early as 1840.

It so happened that in 1914, when the World War, a group of scientists had to temporarily close the research and capture of Komodo dragons. However, 12 years later they started talking about Komodo dragons in America and called them in their own language native language"dragon comodo"

Habitat and life of the Komodo dragon

For over two hundred years now, scientists have been studying the life and habits of the Komodo dragon, and also studying in detail what and how these giant lizards eat. It turned out that cold-blooded reptiles do nothing during the day; they are active in the morning until the sun rises and only from five in the evening they begin to look for prey. Komodo monitor lizards do not like moisture; they mainly settle where there are dry plains or live in tropical forests.

The giant Komodo reptile is initially clumsy, but can reach unprecedented speeds, up to twenty kilometers. Even alligators don't move fast like that. They also find food easy if it is at a high altitude. They calmly rise on their hind legs and, relying on their strong and powerful tail, get food. They can smell their future victim very far away. They can also smell blood at a distance of eleven kilometers and notice the victim far away, since their hearing, sight, and smell are excellent!

Monitor lizards love to treat anyone delicious meat. They won't refuse one large rodent or several, and even insects and larvae will be eaten. When all the fish and crabs are washed ashore by a storm, they are already scurrying here and there along the shore to be the first to eat the “seafood”. Monitor lizards feed mainly on carrion, but there have been cases when dragons have attacked wild sheep, water buffalo, dogs and feral goats.

Komodo dragons do not like to prepare for a hunt in advance; they stealthily attack the prey, grab it and quickly drag it to their shelter.

Reproduction of monitor lizards

Monitor lizards mate primarily warm summer, in the middle of July. Initially, the female is looking for a place where she can safely lay her eggs. She does not choose any special places; she can take advantage of the nests of wild chickens living on the island. By sense of smell, as soon as the female Komodo dragon finds the nest, she buries the eggs so that no one will find them. Nimble wild boars, which are accustomed to destroying bird nests, are especially greedy for dragon eggs. Since the beginning of August, one female monitor lizard can lay more than 25 eggs. The weight of the eggs is two hundred grams and ten or six centimeters in length. As soon as the female monitor lizard lays her eggs, he does not leave them, but waits until her cubs hatch.

Just imagine, the female waits all eight months for the cubs to be born. Small dragon lizards are born at the end of March and can reach 28 cm in length. Small lizards do not live with their mother. They settle down to live on tall trees and there they eat what they can. Cubs are afraid of adult alien monitor lizards. Those who survived and did not fall into the tenacious clutches of hawks and snakes swarming on the tree begin to independently search for food on the ground after 2 years, when they grow up and get stronger.

Keeping monitor lizards in captivity

It is rare that giant Komodo dragons are domesticated and placed in zoos. But, surprisingly, monitor lizards quickly get used to humans, they can even be tamed. One of the representatives of the monitor lizards lived in the London Zoo, freely ate from the hands of the beholder and even followed him everywhere.

Nowadays, Komodo dragons live in the national parks of Rindja and Komodo islands. They are listed in the Red Book, so hunting these lizards is prohibited by law, and according to the decision of the Indonesian committee, the capture of monitor lizards is carried out only with a special permit.

A lizard is an animal that belongs to the class of reptiles (reptiles). To date, almost 6,000 species are known. Representatives of families can differ greatly; some rare varieties are listed in the Red Book. Lizards are both reptiles with legs and some legless forms. Reptiles can be vegetarians and eat animal foods. Some varieties are suitable for keeping at home.

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Description

Unlike snakes, these reptiles have divided eyelids. Their body is elastic, elongated, ends long tail. Paws are proportional, clawed.

According to general characteristics, the body is covered with keratinized scales, which change several times a year. The tongue may have different shapes, it is usually mobile and extends from the mouth. It is with them that lizards catch prey. On both sides of the head are the hearing organs, which are covered by the eardrums.

Real lizard

The most common reptile is the true lizard. Her body length is 40 cm.

Teeth are used for tearing and grinding food. Monitor lizards use them to cut up their prey.

The only poisonous species of lizard is the poison tooth.



Reptiles live on all continents except Antarctica. Representatives familiar to Russia - real lizards - live almost everywhere. All species move on different surfaces, clinging tightly to uneven surfaces. Rock lizards are excellent jumpers, their jump height reaches 4 m.



Tail

Lizards are capable of autotomy, which is used in case of danger: muscle contraction allows you to break the cartilaginous formations of the vertebrae and discard part of the tail, narrowing the blood vessels, resulting in blood loss almost never happens. This distracts the enemy, and the animal avoids the attack.

The reptile's tail quickly recovers in a shortened form. Sometimes not one, but several grow back.



Color

Lizards have a color that combines green, white, gray and brown colors. Species that live in the desert exactly repeat the hue of the surrounding area. This is their defense mechanism.

Desert species are capable of changing body color. These include the calot, a reptile with a red head. Among reptiles there are albinos - these are lizards white devoid of pigment.



The gigantic lizard is black and yellow in color.



Giant lizard

Salamanders are black with yellow spots.



Salamander

Geckos have special colors. Some of them Pink colour with a blue tail.





Floor

There are a number of signs that allow you to roughly determine gender. You can distinguish a male from a femaleonly in adulthood, as sexual dimorphism developslate.

Males of some species are described as having a ridge on their back and head and large pores on their thighs. Another feature of the male is spurs on his paws.

Find out gender individual species possible by throat “bags”, preanal scutes and enlarged scales behind the cloaca.

However, only a blood test for testosterone levels will help to accurately distinguish a male from a female. It is done at the veterinary clinic.

Varieties

Lizard species are divided into 6 infraorders, which consist of 37 families.

Each of them has its own characteristics.

Skinks

The order includes 7 families with the following names:

• real lizards;
• night lizards;
• Gerrosaurs;
• skinks;
• Teiids;
• belttails;
• Gymophthalmides.



Large Gerrosaurus

Iguanas

The order consists of 14 families. Some of the representatives of these lizards are true iguanas. These are large reptiles that can reach a length of 2 m. They live mainly in tropical forests.

A striking representative of the order is also the chameleon, which inhabits Africa, Madagascar, Eastern countries, and the USA. Its peculiarity lies in the ability to change skin color depending on the environment.



Chameleon

In the forests of Cameroon there is a four-horned chameleon, which got its name because of the characteristic growths on its head. Males can only develop three “horns”; females usually do not have them.

Gecko-like

The order consists of 7 families.

Its representative can be called the scalefish, which lives in Australia.



Scalelegs

Fusiformes

The order includes 2 superfamilies and 5 families.

These include monitor lizards, earless monitor lizards, spindle monitors, legless monitor lizards, and xenosaurs.

Large xenosaur

Vermiformes

The order consists of 2 genera and a family vermiform lizards, which look like worms.

They inhabit Indonesia, China, New Guinea, and the Philippines.



Worm-like lizard

Monitor lizards

The order includes several families, which consist of the largest lizards.

Typical representatives are the monitor lizard and the poisonous tooth, which are found in the USA and Mexico.



Komodo dragon

Lizard suborder

The order includes the superfamily Shinisaurus.

It includes one species, the crocodile shinisaurus.



Crocodile Shinisaurus

Record breakers

Of the existing representatives of lizards, the largest is the Komodo dragon. Some individuals have enormous dimensions, reaching three meters in length and a weight of 85 kg in adulthood. A monitor lizard weighing 91.7 kg is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. These reptiles eat small animals, but can attack larger animals. big catch. The Komodo dragon feeds on wild boars, wild goats, and cattle.

The smallest lizards in the world are the Haraguana sphero and the Virginia round-toed gecko. Their dimensions do not exceed 19 mm, weight - 0.2 g.

Domestic species

Various geckos are especially popular among owners.



Pink with gray tail hemiteconix

If you need a calm pet for children, it is better to gethemiteconyx. They have different colors depending on the breed. They accumulate in their tail nutrients, which they use as a reserve in the absence of food. Because of this, the tail appears gray, while the body is most often pink. This is a reptile with a very expressive look.



Felzuma

If you want to keep it at homeIf the animal is more active, you can choose felsuma. She has a beautiful emerald color. You can watch her during daylight hours.

At home they also keep varieties of agamas. The most popular of them are bearded and woody. The first received its name due to the neck pouch, which, when frightened or in mating season stretches and darkens. The tree or black-throated agama is also capable of changing skin tone. Such pets are reluctant to make contact with the owner and prefer to hide.



Many lizards eat insects. They prefer a variety of crickets, mealworms, and will not refuse raw eggs or pieces of meat, a mixture of chopped boiled chicken, carrots and lettuce.

The food is supplemented with vitamins and minerals. In the terrarium for home care there must be water. If the pet refuses food but drinks, there is no reason to worry: the lizard has simply decreased its activity and is not hungry.

Reproduction

The mating season occurs in spring and summer. Large species breed once a season, small ones - several times a year. Males conflict, approach each other from the side, trying to look bigger. The small one gives up without a fight and retreats.

If the males are the same size, a fight ensues between them, during which they use their teeth. The winner gets the right to the female. In some species, an imbalance in the sex ratio leads to parthenogenesis - females lay eggs without the participation of males. Lizards have two types of reproduction: viviparity and oviposition.

Females of small reptiles lay no more than 4 eggs, large ones - up to 18. The weight of one varies from 4 to 200 g. The size of the round-toed gecko egg is no more than 6 mm in diameter. In the monitor lizard it reaches 10 cm in length.

The females bury the clutches in the ground and hide them in burrows. Incubation period lasts from 3 weeks to one and a half months. It depends on the climate. Having hatched, the cubs begin an independent life.

Pregnancy lasts 3 months, embryos northern species overwinter in the womb. Their lifespan does not exceed 5 years.

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THE WORLD'S LARGEST LIZARD - THE KOMODO ISLAND LIZARD

The most large lizard, reaching 4 m in length and weight 180 kg. It feeds mainly on carrion, but also attacks ungulates.

Unique national park Komodo is known throughout the world, is protected by UNESCO and includes a group of islands with adjacent warm waters And coral reefs with an area of ​​more than 170 thousand hectares. The islands of Komodo and Rinca are the largest in the reserve. Their main attraction is “dragons,” giant monitor lizards found nowhere else on the planet.

FROM THE HISTORY OF DISCOVERY

In 1912, a pilot made an emergency landing on Komodo, an island 30 km long and 20 km wide, located between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores, part of the Sunda archipelago. Komodo is almost entirely covered with mountains and dense tropical vegetation, and its only inhabitants were exiles, once subjects of the Sumbawa Rajah. The pilot told amazing things about his stay in this tiny exotic world: he saw huge scary dragons four meters long there, which, as they said, local residents, devour pigs, goats and deer, and sometimes attack horses. Of course, no one believed a word he said.

However, some time later, Major P.-A. Owens, director of Butensorgsky botanical garden, proved that these giant reptiles do exist. In December 1918, Owens, who set himself the goal of learning the secret of the Komodo monsters, wrote to the manager of the island of Flores for civil affairs, van Stein. Residents of the island told that in the vicinity of Labuan Badio, as well as on the nearby island of Komodo, there lives a “buaya-darat”, that is, an “earth crocodile”.

Van Stein became interested in their message and firmly decided to find out as much as possible about this curious animal, and if he was lucky, then get one individual. When his service brought him to Komodo, he received the information he was interested in from two local pearl fishers - Koka and Aldegon. They both claimed that among the giant lizards there were specimens six or even seven meters in length, and one of them even boasted that he had personally killed several of these lizards.

During his stay on Komodo, van Stein was not as lucky as his new acquaintances. Nevertheless, he managed to obtain a specimen 2 m 20 cm long, the skin and photograph of which he sent to Major Owens. In the accompanying letter, he said that he would try to catch a larger specimen, although this would not be easy: the natives were afraid of the teeth of these monsters, as well as the blows of their terrible tails.

Then the Butensorg Zoological Museum hastily sent him a Malay specialist in animal capture to help. However, van Stein was soon transferred to Timor and was unable to participate in the hunt for the mysterious dragon, which this time ended successfully. Raja Ritara put hunters and dogs at the disposal of the Malay, and he was lucky enough to catch four “land crocodiles” alive, and two of them turned out to be quite good specimens: their length was a little less than three meters. And some time later, according to van Stein, some Sergeant Becker shot a four-meter-long specimen.

In these monsters, witnesses of bygone eras, Owens easily recognized monitor lizards of a large variety. He described this species in the Bulletin of the Butensorg Botanical Garden, calling it Varanus komodensis.

Later it turned out that this huge dragon is also found on the tiny islands of Ritya and Padar, lying to the west of Flores. Finally, it became known that this beast was mentioned in the Bim archives dating back to around 1840.

Famous German hunter who killed many lions, tigers and others in his life dangerous predators, died on Komodo Island under unclear circumstances. He went to photograph a flock of monitor lizards and did not return. On the shore of the swamp, only his shoes and a mangled movie camera were found.

It is possible that he became convinced the hard way about the authenticity of the existence of relic creatures.

Today, the Komodo dragon is kept in many zoos around the world, and everyone has the opportunity to verify its incredible gluttony by watching how it indulges in gluttony. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the name "Komodo" means "island of rats", but today there is not a single rat left on rat island...

DRAGONS OF KOMODO ISLAND

Actually, dragons are fantastic creatures. There is no such animal in nature, however, this is the name given to the giant monitor lizards that live today on the Indonesian island of Komodo and some other small nearby islands. The local population calls them "ora". It is believed that there are somewhere around 5,000 of them on all the islands where they live.

Of course, giant monitor lizards cause huge interest among tourists visiting Indonesia. It’s one thing to look at a small, cute, nimble lizard and quite another to look at a giant one. Thousands of tourists specially come to Komodo National Park to see this miracle of nature. Accompanied by guides, they can see the legendary dragons.

Komodo Island is located in the Lesser Sunda Islands group, and to get to it, you need to swim across the treacherous Seip Strait. Tourists are prohibited from walking around the park on their own. The reason for this strictness is simple: you can be eaten. In addition, the places where you can meet the dragon are known only to park rangers.

Dragons are no joke. They have a disgusting reputation: they cannot be tamed and do not distinguish between humans and deer - both are just food for them. True, they say that in private the caretakers treat them quite familiarly: they caress them and sometimes even ride them on horseback.

Perhaps monitor lizards used to feed on dwarf elephants when they were still found here. Now the objects of their hunt are buffalo, deer, wild goats and pigs, which settled on the islands in a later period. But the reptiles themselves are not threatened by anyone, except humans, of course, and... brothers. Yes, dragons are cannibals.

Today, Komodo dragons are endangered. Until 1993, 280 dragons were killed by humans. During the same time, the dragons killed and wounded 12 people.

Local residents living in houses on stilts sometimes get caught in the teeth of monitor lizards waiting below. You can die from a minor bite. The dragon's saliva is deadly saturated poisonous species bacteria, and most of Animals bitten by dragons, even if they manage to escape, quickly die from blood poisoning.

All types of animals belonging to “dragons” have always attracted human attention. Therefore, it is not surprising that in Komodo, 700 km away from the island of Borneo, a kind of show with dragons is held every two weeks, which is attended by thousands of thrill-seekers.

The main attraction of the park on Komodo Island is feeding the dragons. To see this, tourists settle down on observation deck, located on a hill above a dry river. Some people consider monitor lizards to be ugly animals, but they are even beautiful in their own way. Their lumpy skin is somewhat reminiscent of chain mail. But the mouths of giant lizards are truly terrifying. They are filled with rows of sharp, jagged teeth, between which a forked tongue slides.

The dragons slowly turn their heads, looking at the curious bipeds with their unblinking black eyes. On days when monitor lizards are not fed, their gaze has such an effect on tourists that the number of people to look at them during feeding is significantly reduced. It's getting kind of scary. Usually, in order not to injure curious tourists, the goats are thrown to the monitor lizards already killed. Clumsily crawling over each other, huge lizards rush to the goat’s carcass and begin to fight for a piece of meat. There is no particular noise, except for the audible exhalation of reptiles, which means a warning to the opponent: “Move back! It is mine!"

Monitor lizards are the only reptiles (besides turtles) that, before eating their prey, tear it into pieces, holding it with their powerful paws. Their teeth, 2 cm in size, are perfectly adapted for this purpose. Each tooth looks like a curved scalpel with a dozen notches. Having had their fill, monitor lizards find shade and fall into a dormant state.

In the wild, they usually live isolated from each other; they sleep in bushes, under trees, or dig holes for themselves. Adult animals have their own territories.

At short distances, monitor lizards can run very quickly, even catching up with deer. However, when chasing prey, adult individuals quickly get tired and are forced to stop. Therefore, they prefer to wait for her in ambush, lying in tall grass or in the bush. Having noticed prey, monitor lizards creep up to it as close as possible, after which a sharp throw follows.

But once the sun sets, the monitor lizard is unrecognizable. He falls into such a deep sleep that he becomes completely safe. At this time, you can touch it and even attach plastic tags to your fingers and measure your body temperature.

Scientists say that it is almost impossible to distinguish between a female and a male. In general, information about the physiology and reproductive behavior of dragons is based only on assumptions. Scientists debated about their sex life for several decades, but it was only in 1986 that two Australian researchers finally solved this problem. They described in detail the process of courtship between a male and a female. United couples live together for a long time, but rarely their entire lives.

For a number of reasons, tourists do not have the opportunity to observe the life of monitor lizards for a long time. Monitor lizards feeding is the only thing he can see. Against such a spectacular event national park Some scientists advocate Komodo, believing that human feeding of monitor lizards may ultimately influence their behavior in the wild. However, something needs to attract tourists, even if not all of them can stand the spectacle.

Are monitor lizards smart animals? Some scientists are still inclined to answer this question positively. One day, one of the attendants accompanying a group of tourists on a day when monitor lizards are not fed bleated like a goat. The monitor lizards immediately fixed their unblinking gaze on the source of the sound. But when the caretaker tried to attract their attention in the same way the next time, he did not succeed. The monitor lizards did not even turn their heads, realizing that it was not a goat screaming.

Komodo dragons have long proven that it is always better to be more careful with them.

PAPUA DRAGON AND MEGALANIA PRISCA

WITH late XIX centuries and to this day, many eyewitnesses from the eastern, Papuan, part of New Guinea, as well as from New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, describe huge, dragon-like creatures with an oblong body and a long, flat tail. They look like monitor lizards, but their length, according to stories, is about 8 m. For comparison, let's say that the dragon from Komodo Island, the largest of existing species lizards, rarely longer than 3 m.

For many years, zoologists did not believe these reports, but in 1980, a scientific expedition led by John Blashford-Snell caught a living Papuan dragon, called “Artrellia”. It was still a very young specimen, only 1.87 m long. But it turned out that it belongs to a species that is already known to science - Varanus salvadorii.

By that time it was already known that this species could reach longer length than the Komodo dragon: the largest specimen described was a 4.75 m long male discovered by researcher Michael Pope.

But he was not as powerful and strong as the Komodo dragon, and therefore the latter is still considered the largest lizard in the world. However, now that the existence of artrelia has turned out to be a reality, eyewitness reports of giant Papua dragons may be confirmed.

Since it is unknown whether this species exists in Australia itself, some zoologists have found similarities between the dragons allegedly seen here and the giant Australian lizard Megalania prisca, which is believed to be extinct. Could it still exist?

Before today external resemblance between the mysterious Australian dragon and Megalania supported this idea, but today a study of the skeletal remains reveals that Megalania most likely has a noticeable crest on its head. This feature was never mentioned by those who reported encounters with giant lizard in Australia. Therefore, Megalania may still be a different species of reptile.

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