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Perenties are the largest living species of lizard in Australia. Perenties can grow to lengths of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) and weigh up to 20 kg (44 lb), possibly up to 3 m (9 ft 10 in) and 40 kg (88 lb), making it the fourth-largest extant species of lizard (exceeded in size only by the Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor and crocodile monitor).
The most species-rich group is Squamata, the snakes and lizards. They are especially diverse in the arid areas of Australia, where other fauna are scarcer. Spinifex grass is a major habitat which allows them to remain in a relatively cool, moist area. Australia has a large array of reptiles which can be dangerous to humans.
The perentie is the largest lizard Australia, and also one of the biggest lizards in the world. The perentie (Varanus giganteus) is by average length and weight the largest extant lizard native to Australia and fifth or fourth-biggest lizard in the world after Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor, crocodile monitor and competes with Nile monitor. [1]
Megalania (Varanus priscus) is an extinct species of giant monitor lizard, [1] part of the megafaunal assemblage that inhabited Australia during the Pleistocene.It is the largest terrestrial lizard known to have existed, but the fragmentary nature of known remains make estimates highly uncertain.
Being predatory lizards, goannas are often quite large with sharp teeth and claws. The largest is the perentie (V. giganteus), which can grow over 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length. Not all goannas are so large; pygmy goannas may be smaller than the arm of an adult human.
As well as more than 150 bird species, the park provides an arid habitat for small marsupials (many of them nocturnal), dingoes, feral camels and the perentie (Australia’s largest lizard).
In Australia, it coexisted with the even larger monitor species Varanus priscus also known as megalania, the largest terrestrial lizard ever. [22] The oldest records of the Komodo dragon on Flores date to around 1.4 million years ago, during the Early Pleistocene. [23]
A ginormous and deadly funnel-web spider has been handed in to a reptile park in Australia, where staff said it was the largest of its kind they’d ever seen.. Fittingly named Hemsworth, the ...