I think this is going to be a long one so hang in there.
As a research scientist and professional consultant to the mining industry it is no surprise that I have no time for witch hunts. Hang on.....let me start again.
As a biological consultant to the burgeoning, fast-paced, highly-charged, cut-throat, kill or be killed, live and let die mining and resource industry I have one purpose and one purpose only - to provide clear, concise and impartial assessments of the biology of an area targeted for potential impact to the environmental regulators on behalf of my clients. I have no time for witch hunts.
It is my job to look for animals - that is what I do. Before I embark on a survey I compile a list of species I might expect to encounter and I invest every ounce of energy I can muster into finding each and every one of those species. Many are rare and so it is no surprise that we never find them all.
Unfortunately, it has only just occurred to me that I have been wandering the most remote of the Australian wilderness with my eyes wide shut.
Predators (which is essentially what I am) hunt based on a search image. It is far easier to find something when you know what you are looking for as you have captured it previously. As a consequence, predators don't tend to notice what they are not looking for. They stay in the zone with their blinkers on.
For 20 years I have delighted in finding the longest snakes, the fattest lizards, the most rotund frogs, the most monstrous crocodiles and the most colourful geckos that I could reasonably expect to see in each of the project areas I have surveyed. True - every now and then something unexpected crosses my path, but it is the exception rather than the norm.
However, it is that wanton expectation that may well have caused me to miss all of those animals that supposedly no longer exist. Cryptozoology is a whole new dimension of ecology that, until very recently, I had never ever even bothered to investigate.
Now before you question my sanity, professional integrity and pharmaceutical intake please consider this case study: Megalania
From fossil records this animal is reported to have grown up to 25 feet (ft) or 7 meters (m) in length and weighed over 600 kilograms (kg). It is thought to have become extinct between 20 000 - 40 000 years ago. It was closely related and supposedly looked similar to the modern day Komodo Dragon which is less than half this size. It is also closely related to the ridiculously common Lace Monitor, distributed across the eastern states of Australia.
Over recent decades there have been a great many reported sightings of this giant lizard, but all are usually dismissed as fascicle and whimsical fairy tales. No doubt they are very real and very visceral to those actual eyewitnesses that encountered them. But, as is usually the case, people will only believe what they want to believe.
But if half-a-dozen people have reported seeing 25+ ft giant lizards, how many hundreds or thousands of people have not bothered to report their encounters with 10 ft lizards? In Australia a 5 m crocodile is everyday news, so (to the lay person) a 10 ft lizard is no news at all. But the simple fact is that there are no (NONE, ZIP, ZERO) 10 ft lizards known to science in Australia today. The largest is the Perentie at 7 ft.
To make my point I actually only just made a random phone call to an every day bloke (a parent of one of my daughters friends). I asked what he would do if he was driving through the bush in the hills east of Perth and he saw a three metre long lizard crossing the road. He simply said and I quote “ pull up, let it cross and stay out of its way”.
Not for one second did he consider, think or realise that Australia simply does not have lizards that long. He did not indicate the slightest inclination that he might report it to a Museum, or to the Department of Parks and Wildlife or the local Shire.
Why has it or is it not seen more often???? Maybe it is and people just don’t realise what they are seeing.
I actually spoke with a gentleman in Townsville who is happy to go on the record and recount his encounter with a 3.5 m lizard less than 18 months ago. When he saw it, he was shocked but he simply thought it was, and I quote a ‘bloody big lizard’. Never for a moment did he consider his encounter worthy of any further thought.
My point is that we (the biologists) might be unfortunate not to have seen Megalania in the wild because it could be exceptionally rare and be isolated to pockets of the Australian wilderness that few people ever survey. But just because biologists have not recorded it does not mean it does not exist!!
My scientific background is based around how reptiles survive and respond to their changing environment. There is a very strong case, based on the physiology and ecology of large
reptiles, that Megalania could still exist today albeit as a smaller variant.
There are innumerable examples in the natural world of shifts in the size of certain reptile species. In almost every case, body size changes over time in direct correlation with changes in available prey size. The giant Chappell Island Tiger Snakes that feed once a year on large mutton bird chicks are perhaps the best known example. These snakes have increased to almost twice the size of the average mainland tiger snake in less than 10 000 years of isolation on islands between Victoria and Tasmania. Their size has been determined by their prey. On other islands where tiger snakes do not have large prey to feed on they have not changed in size at all.
Is it unreasonable to expect then that the average size of Megalania could have reduced over 40 000 to reflect the reduction in their prey size?
At 25 ft and weighing 600 kg early Megalania would have happily chowed down on Diprotodon optatum which, at 3 m long, 2 m high at the shoulder and weighing up to two tonnes, resembled a giant wombat. Today's wombats would represent an afternoon snack for early Megalania. Over 40 000 years Megalania has, most likely, reduced in size too.
In my travels as a biologist I have dismissed a thousand huge tail drags as large kangaroos or snake slides, rather than giant monitor lizards. I am an expert and I know the difference.......Or do I?
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