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Monday 14 November 2011

Burunjor, an Aboriginal Tyrannosaurus?

I just receieved this update in my email from Rex Gilroy through an intermediary:

Out Now
"Burrunjor!The Search For Australia's Living Tyrannosaurus".
by Rex and Heather Gilroy
Copyright © Rex Gilroy 2011.
This book is virtually completed and ready for the printer. Our book comes at a time when, thanks to our pioneering research into this mystery of Aboriginal Australia, Burrunjor is grabbing the attention of Cryptozoologists worldwide.

During March this year the Gilroys, together with Greg Foster our research assistant, carried out an expedition which resulted in the discovery of fresh tracks of Theropod dinosaur type, ancient rock carvings depicting these Tyrannosaurid monsters, and searched regions including the `Red Centre' where these nightmarish monsters have been claimed seen for generations..

It is all there in our new book for all to see, the sightings and terrifying close encounters, not only by Aborigines but also a great many European settlers; the stock `kills' , the `Time-Window' theory evidence; accounts of people who have witnessed the `impossible; people who have by chance
entered `Time-Windows' to encounter the "Age of Dinosaurs".

The book does not only feature information from Australia's far north, for reports of Burrunjor come from South Australia, western Queensland, far western New South Wales and then there are also the eastern Australian encounters, particularly concerning the mysterious `Dinosaur wamplands' of the Wollemi wilderness.

BURRUNJOR! The Search for Australia's Living Tyrannosaurus,
will be released in December 2011 and is certain to create a sensation.

Details Below
http://www.mysteriousaustralia.com/books-for-sale.html


With the help of some of "Cryptozoologist's previously-posted illustrations (And don't think for a minute I am ungrateful for them!), I think I can solve this little problem right away. The creature is the same as the giant lizard "Megalania" reported in other parts of Australia, only it occasionally sits up on its hind legs. This behaviour is known in Komodo dragons, for example when an adult dragon is attempting to snatch something out of a tree. And the artwork does not even need to be actually showing the lizards standing upright: this is basically a matter of perspective used in the artwork. Monitor lizards can be frequently depicted from above looking down, oriented with the nose end up and tail end down. This is shown on both bark art paintings and on rock art. And I have known about this since my High School days.
 An aboriginal bark painting showing a monitor lizard from just such a view. The illustration is from the Encyclopedia Britannica Online. The illustration seems to show a lizard standing up on its hind legs, but really it is on all fours on the ground as seen from above.Different versions of the design can show the mouth open or both forelegs on one side. This one is done in the "X-Ray" style.

Incidentally, the "Plesiosaur-Bunyip" rock art is also basically a variation of the same design, only with the neck very much longer and the limbs looking more like flappers. There is nothing unusual about the purported Plesiosaurs from an ARTISTIC point of view-it is a variation on the common lizard design. The difference is in the specific anatomy. Incidentally, while researchin this blog, I found a shortnecked Plesiosaur variation of the design on a site which wants me to pay to use the illustration. It looks very much like Tyler Stone's version of Gambo. Perhaps I shall be able to run it in a future blog.
Here is another piece from "Cryptozoologist's" page showing a reptillian "Bunyip" standing on its hind legs. This looks very much like a large lizard and nothing like a Tyrannosaurus.

"Cryptozoologist" also illustrates a reconstruction of similar "Dinosaur" reports from Northern Chile in South America. I had made mention of similar reports from Peru (Other side of the Andes) in regards to the Chupacabras discussion earlier, and I believe there was also a description from Chile that specified there was a sawtoothed ridge down the back. This would be an unusual iguana lizard of large size but little doubt that it IS an iguana lizard: size range estimates of this range from two to four meters long, pretty consistently throughout South America wherever it is reported. That is the exact size of the Komodo Dragon (Eberhart lists the type as "Venezuelan Monitor Lizards")

I just add this at the end as independant confirmation of the information that I have been sharing on the subject.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

7 comments:

  1. I concur 100%. I've said for years that the 'Australian Tyrannosaur' is a giant monitor lizard.

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  2. Some sightings may actually be some thought to be extinct Giant flightless Australian birds that were similar size to the Madagascan Elephant Bird.Other sightings are probably the thought to be extinct Megalania.

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  3. And thank you all for your votes of confidence! To Dustin I think I can readily agree-not only do we have evidence which sounds like giant monitor lizards (Specifically the same kind of giant monitor lizards reported elsewhere in Australia), but we also do have some independant evidence which seems to indicate the presence of some really huge terrestrial birds. The eggs in the same size range as the Madagascan Elephant birds are definitely also known and they have been known for a while: Ivan Sanderson wrote about them in his last book. Some of those eggs were even reportedly still fresh at that time. It would necessarily have to be extremely rare, of course.

    Best Wishes, Dale D.

    ReplyDelete
  4. IMHO a giant Teju makes a better candidate for the Venezuelan monitor lizard since they are so alike morphologically and ecologically.

    Also I have found this on Wiki :
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teju_Jagua

    ReplyDelete
  5. In South America we have these situations:
    A) we have generic reports of big lizards, type not further specified
    B) we DO have some reports which suggest giant tegu lizards. However the phrase "giant tegu lizards" has never been used in the literature to describe these reports
    C) We have reports of big lizards that can stand and run on their hind legs with spiny crests down their backs. These are presumably iguanaids. Tegu lizards do not get up on their hind legs and run around but some iguanids do.
    D) We have native artwork including in Colombia that definitely shows enormous iguana lizards in scale comparison to humans. Both C and D are in the size range of Komodo Dragons.
    E) We have the very vague mention of large lizards of the same size as Komodo dragons in Venezuela, no more identifying features given.

    Given that situation, wouldn't you ordinarily think that C, D and E go together? I am not poorly-disposed to the notion that there is morethan one species of unknown lizard in South America, but in this case categories C, D and E also fall together geographically.

    And as Tyler Stone reminds me in a personal email, some of the Chilean information (Including tracks) comes from confusions with rheas. However, the one drawing appended to the article above should not be used as a guideline in deciding what the creatures are: it is more of n "Artist's conception" than anything done after witnesses' descriptions.

    Best Wishes, Dale D.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I too, totally agree that Burrunjor legends are based off of sightings of huge monitor lizards standing upright for short periods of time. Although it may seem unlikely, I also think that the huge "theropod-like tracks" may belong to a large bird akin to emus or possibly moas. It seems unlikely for there to be so many unknown species, but Australia is known for its vast wilderness that is harsh to human explorers and also for its bizarre fauna.

    ReplyDelete

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