New research suggests that during the last Ice Age, human inhabitants of Australia had to battle giant lizards along with the frigid conditions. The findings also suggest the epic battles between humans and the gigantic lizards may have resulted in the animals' extinction.
Scientists working in Central Queensland uncovered evidence that giant apex predator lizards existed in the Queensland region at the same time as our human ancestors, the University of Queensland reported.
"Our jaws dropped when we found a tiny fossil from a giant lizard during a two [meter] deep excavation in one of the Capricorn Caves, near Rockhampton," said UQ vertebrate palaeoecologist Gilbert Price. "We can't tell if the bone is from a Komodo dragon-which once roamed Australia-or an even bigger species like the extinct Megalania monitor lizard, which weighed about 500 [kilograms] and grew up to six [meters] long."
