# Cryptozoology

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptozoology/16811>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 28, 1999, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptozoology/16811 "1999-09-28T11:06:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 1999, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptozoology/16811/21 "1999-10-08T15:23:00Z")

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Daniel said:

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> giant carniverous reptiles in Australian outback\ maybe. Not dinosaurs. Existing fossil record confirms that such an animal existed there at one time. Near island of Komodo. Komodo dragon relative?

Yep. Enormous varanids lived in the Pleistocene in northern Australia (Queensland IIRC), very similar to the Komodo dragon but about 2.5 times the size. Extinct c. 10,000 years ago, again IIRC. It is probably a capital crime but nonetheless irresistable to refer to them as the Thunderful Lizard of Oz.

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**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 1999, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptozoology/16811/22 "1999-10-08T22:30:00Z")

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HubZilla wrote:

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> \<BLOCKQUOTE\>“So if Big Foot and Superman and Godzilla teamed up against Spiderman, a t’rannosaurus, and the Loch Ness Monster, who would win?”\</BLOCKQUOTE\>
> 
> Godzilla would beat them all by himself, of course!

Not if we’re talking about the pre-Crisis Superman, he wouldn’t.

I swear, the old Kal El could shrug off hydrogen bombs and throw whole star systems half way across the galaxy.

* * *

The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptozoology/16811/23 "1999-10-10T19:02:00Z")

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Age will get to all of us, tracer, even Kryptonians! 🙂

“I swear, they’re not making superheroes like they used to when I was young. Why, I remember when…” 😉

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptozoology/16811/24 "1999-10-11T13:28:00Z")

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Found the reference to the Komodo dragon on steroids in Ice Age Australia. It was approximately the weight and volume of a VW Bug, though a little lower and substantially longer. Genus name was _Megalania_.

Apropos of nothing except that it will tickle the funny bone of a number of posters, contemporary with the above critter was a giant python, named, s’help me Cthulhu, _Montypythonoides_.

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