I watched this program called animal x and it was about megalania they reckon its still alive today.thre was this bus going on school trip in the outback and the bus driver stop and all the children strat looking out the window.There was these 2 people who went to the outback and they saw it to they said it stated looking at them like it was about to eat them,but it ran off for some reason.
Dark Helemet Posted: Nov 15 2003, 11:03 PM
Megelania isnt a new species. I think it died out during the Permian Extinction. It was larger than the Komodo and more deadly at that.
skater240 Posted: Nov 16 2003, 04:33 AM
well it has came back then sorry!!!!!!!!!!
Nornironer Posted: Nov 16 2003, 06:29 AM
it wasn't during the Permian extinction, they think that the aboriginal people of australia had come in contact with them, but i doubt i could of survived, cause it was around 40 thousand years ago.
Wally Posted: Nov 16 2003, 07:40 AM
just like pie
Juggernaut Posted: Nov 16 2003, 08:04 AM
wrong dark helmet it died out in the ice age. the permian was when the dinosaurs started appearing and we both know that unless you've got some religion then no people were any where near one of these critters. Another thing: you try hiding a 25 foot long lizard in a place where it's too flat and there isn't enough vegitation to hide one. I think people would know this thing existed. and the 2 people seeing it run away, your a 25 foot long predator that could tear a crocodile to shreds, but you run away from to people that are at most 6 feet tall.
This post has been edited by Juggernaut on Nov 16 2003, 08:11 AM
Wally Posted: Nov 16 2003, 08:32 AM
I knew that all along!
kielo91 Posted: Nov 16 2003, 09:05 AM
I believe Megalania died out in the Ice Age. And it could be possible that those people could've seen one. About anything's possible.
Click HERE for Little Bit More Info on Megalania
It doesn't provide much info, but it may give you an idea of how large it was & how long ago it lived.
Save_The_Mop Posted: Nov 16 2003, 01:09 PM
I loved that show,Animal X, but I don't think they show it any more where I live. I doubt that Megalania still exists.If so,there would have to be a breeding population,large eggs/eggshells would be found,large enough footprints with a tail print would have to be found, and there would have to be hundreds upon hundreds of sightings,because a 30 foot lizard sticks out in a crowd. As well as the fact they would have to find a very reliable source of food,which would be rare for such a large creature,even if it was cold blooded. The sighting could have just been an abnomaly large monitor and obscured vision, but since the people on the bus were frightened they exaggerated their story. I know I did when I saw a rattlesnake once I said it was like four feet long when now I look back at it,it was probably more like two and I could only see the tail, so I estimated. It is possible that they could still exist,but not probable.
robbieb Posted: Nov 16 2003, 10:15 PM
the islands it lived/s on arent that big so if it was still living i think with all the scientist there doing studies on komoto dragons they would be seen or heard crashing around the islands
skater240 Posted: Nov 17 2003, 02:57 AM
couldbe living ina cave in the groud where havent been before.
Save_The_Mop Posted: Nov 17 2003, 11:20 AM
If it were living in a cave,it would need to get sunlight somehow, or it would die.
superlion Posted: Nov 17 2003, 11:26 AM
Not necessarily... many creatures can get all the vitamins they need in their diet, so they don't need sunlight... but it'd have to be an abnormally large cave...
Wally Posted: Nov 17 2003, 11:26 AM
maybe they are mostly in the cave...
Save_The_Mop Posted: Nov 17 2003, 11:29 AM
Correct me if I am wrong, but since it is a reptile, wouldn't it need to get sunlight in order to stay warm?Or could the cave harbor warm air that could sustain it?
Wally Posted: Nov 17 2003, 01:34 PM
Maybe it is a warrmblooded reptile
jwa1107 Posted: Nov 17 2003, 01:50 PM
maybe it is not a reptile at all!
Save_The_Mop Posted: Nov 17 2003, 02:17 PM
I've always considered dinosaurs and the like as warm-blooded, but they also were the ones who didn't move in the classic reptile "sprawl" and look (pretty much) exactly the same as monitors today. If they ever found a preserved megalania heart, they could make an educated guess as to if it were warm or cold blooded. I just think since it shared so many characteristics as monitors (Aren't they even classified as one?) it was one.
kielo91 Posted: Nov 17 2003, 07:31 PM
They've found that dinosaurs perhaps were warm-blooded. There are so many numerous characteristics about dinos that are so imprecise. I doubt that Megalania still exists. Most reptiles require shelter & Megalania was, theoretically thinking, too large to fit into anything suitable for shelter, in simpler terms. But my range of knowledge of reptiles doesn't relatively meet the requirements of being even slightly accurate..
This post has been edited by kielo91 on Nov 17 2003, 07:32 PM
skater240 Posted: Nov 18 2003, 04:49 AM
dinosaurs are supposed be more related to birds than reptiles so they could be living with out sun and megalania could come out now and then to feed.
Wally Posted: Nov 18 2003, 06:49 AM
Not all dinosaurs are more related to birds!
Megalania is more a lizard
kielo91 Posted: Nov 18 2003, 03:17 PM
Lizards are reptiles, Wally. Dinosaurs were giant reptiles/lizards. Though, it has been found that they might have been warm-blooded. But no one will EVER know for sure if their hypothetic thinking is accurate. Skater, there were generally many dinosaurs that were related to birds. Caudipteryx was one. But not all were related. Birds are mostly related to dinosaurs, raptors.
Where's ZTDinozaur when you need him?
Save_The_Mop Posted: Nov 18 2003, 03:52 PM
I'm pretty sure the Dromaeosaurs (Raptors) and Troodonts (The smartest kind of dinosaurs) are the closest dinos related to birds. Most theropods (Bipedal) are more closely related to birds than sauropods,hadrosaurs,etc.
skater240 Posted: Nov 19 2003, 06:22 AM
i reckon the raptor is the closet because it has the same bone structure as birds they have talons
Wally Posted: Nov 19 2003, 11:22 AM
I know that there are allot of dinosaurs who look like birds.. but not EVERY dinosaur is close to birds...
kielo91 Posted: Nov 19 2003, 12:16 PM
I'm thinking along the line with Save_the_Mop. Troodonts are very close to birds. Raptors have generally the same bone structure like those of birds. We need our Dino_Specialist. We got a Dino_Specialist in the house?
Invader Necro Posted: Nov 26 2003, 02:54 PM
It could be a pre-Komodo Dragon. Of course, we could all just be insane...
Save_The_Mop Posted: Nov 26 2003, 02:58 PM
It was a relative of the komodo dragon, maybe a predicessor, but I doubt it. And we're not all insane *cough*saveforme*cough*
Nornironer Posted: Nov 27 2003, 01:33 PM
The megalania was a giant monitor lizard closely related to the modern day goana of Australia, as komodo dragons are in the monitor family they would be related but definately not a predescessor, they the ancestors of the komodo were already running around indonesia when megalania showed up
professorpaul Posted: Nov 27 2003, 02:17 PM
Right.
As far as dinosaurs are concerned they are not giant lizards,but a seperate class of reptile more closely allied to both crocodiles & birds.It has not been conclusively proven that they were all warm blooded or all cold blooded & it is still difficult to tell because unfortunately we have no soft tissues to investigate.
(Wally,do something useful & invent a time machine).However,as dinosaurs do not exhibit the classic reptilian sprawl but seem to have adopted a more mammalian posture I think it's extremely likely they they were warm blooded.(Georges Cuvier,the great 18th century anatomist,speculated that if organs looked similar they performed a similar function.If mammals & dinosaurs both walked with legs vertical to the body axis & not sprawling,why should dinosaurs not be warm blooded?)
As for Megalania;well,we have to bear the following in mind.Australia is a vast area,the smallest continent & the largest island in the world.Much of it is uninhabited & rarely trod by human feet.There is no real reason why a giant lizard cannot exist in the outback,the food sources are there.
I tend to the optimistic where cryptids are concerned.When you think that until the 20th century the Okapi,the Gorilla,the Saola,even the worlds most famous animal,the Panda,were considered to be myths!I beleive there are creatures out there waiting to be discovered or re-discovered;if Megalania had become extinct it COULD NOT come back on its own.It would have to be cloned! But I can give you a very recent example,from Canada;in 1959 in a small area of forest they discovered Forest Bison,previously considered long extinct.If the Forest Bison can go undetected for years then why not a megalania,or a thylacine,or bigfoot,or orang pendek?!
Animal X has the tag line "There are more things in heaven & earth" a paraphrase from Shakespeare;but the Bard of Avon was right!Dont rule anything out!
This post has been edited by professorpaul on Nov 27 2003, 02:20 PM
Save_The_Mop Posted: Nov 27 2003, 02:41 PM
I never really rule-out anything, but I give it thought. There COULD be a megalania, but I don't really think there is. I highly belive there is a type (or types) of giant sea-eel ,reported as a sea serpent alot of the time, as there have been many sightings and there are a bunch of similarities. I also believe in cadberasaurus (I think I spelled that right), thunderbirds (Although I sometimes think the sizes are exaggerated), the yeti, that the thylecine is still alive, and many others. I don't really believe in the loch ness monster, bigfoot, megalodon (The whole Marianas trench thing), and megalania. Some of the famous "sightings" of the two have been proven hoaxes, and the other two are rarely reported, at least any more. Some other 20th and 21st century animal discoveries include the sunbeam snake (An EXTREMELY beautiful creature), megamouth shark, Hoan Kiem Turtle, New African Robin, collasal squid, and even deer and goats that eat flesh! The last one I learned about from the last episode of Animal X that I ever saw. I miss that show.
robbieb Posted: Dec 9 2003, 07:00 PM
about the hole living in a cave thing it wouldnt be able to due to the fact that what would it eat none of its food sourse we know of lives in caves and if they ate eachother they would have died off long ago and second of all it isnt a pre komodo dragons but a close relative like a cyote and a wolf look alot alike but a wolf is larger and they do share a common ansestor many yeas ago and for one to still live on the islands it could because the islands are relatively unchanged since there time like same animals still live there but personaly i dont belive there is one still alive