Australian Megafauna for Australia Day

The following picture of the presumably-extinct Australian megafauna was posted this morning on Facebook because of Australia Day. Most of the creatures shown on it have been nominated as survivals corresponding to recent Cryptid categories.

Papuan Iguanodon

From British Columbia Cryptozoologists on Facebook:

Magda Rui Mendes posts:

Iguanodon (meaning iguana tooth) , a herbivorous dinosaur from the mid Jurassic decade of the Cretaceous period , been extinct for millions of years . Or not ? In the remote forests of Papua , New Guinea , dinosaur-like creature was seen . This can live link to an extinct creature was dubbed the Iguanodon PNG .

In 2004 , the PNG Iguanodon was spotted living in a swamp of thick green plants near the ruined city of Rabaul . The city was destroyed in a volcanic eruption about ten years before . Villagers saw the creature ran away from her, terrified . They reported it to be about three feet tall , gray, and have a head like a dog and a tail like a crocodile .

Although Iguanodon is thought to have been a strict herbivore, this creature spotted in Papua New Guinea is reported to have eaten three dogs . Could be the creature evolved to become carnivorous in the millions of years it has been thought to be extinct ? Or does it mean that it is some other animal entirely?

Anyway , the mayor of the nearby town of Kokopo Capital expects that the creature is found because it would make a great tourist attraction for the area .

A previous group of sightings , although somewhat less well documented , took place in 1999 - a large creature was seen wading in Lake Murray . The next day, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor reported seeing a creature with a body as a garbage truck , standing on two legs . He reported that he had a cow's head -like, and a crocodile tail , with a look of crocodile-like scaly general .

The SyFy show Destination Truth investigated the Iguanodon PNG in his first season episode entitled Igunodon and Ri . In the episode , the team is shown bones thought to be a Iquanodon in Papua New Guinea University . They also conducted some research first hand in the swamp . Upon returning to the U.S. , they consult experts zoology and showed them the evidence examined . Experts say the bones are probably from a sperm whale , and the footage caught on tape is probably one hunting saltwater crocodile .

What is known about dinosaurs Iguanodon , and how it relates to this strange creature seen in this isolated island ? Iquanodon fossils and bones have shown that they can grow to a height of 9 feet ( 2.7 m ) , then this is consistent with what the report sightings . Iguanodon teeth are made for herbivores , which means that the herbivorous dinosaur would not have eaten three dogs - unless they evolved to eat meat to be , or just killed the dogs and eat them . Examining the leg bones Iguanadon , the scientists concluded that could walk on four legs , but also work in two . This is consistent with the sightings .

If an Iguanodon were still exist today , the isolated island of New Guinea seems to be the perfect place for a creature to have remained unknown until modern times . It is not beyond the realm of possibility that he belongs to a species never before documented - between the years 2000-2009, more than 19 thousand new species have been discovered . Naturally, most of which was insects , plants and fungi. Is also quite possible that a creature has been considered extinct appear alive and well many years later - to see the story of the coelacanth fish, which was discovered in 1938 , after having been thought to be exinct 65 million years.

For now, though , Iguanodon PNG remains a little puzzling cryptozoology , out of the reach of modern science and fact.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/108862020834/10151985895900835/

  

[-The creature in question is almost certainly a large lizard and not an Iguanodon. A parallel situation exists in South America with a large Iguanid lizard is called an "Iguanodon"
In this case, all I am interested in is the local reports of a sort of carnivorous land-crocodile and I do not consider the source, the supposed supporting evidence, or the conclusions to be reliable.

I have been informed that the remains spoken of in the television broadcast and brought back by the Destination Truth team were most likely whale remains as stated, and  the film is pretty certainly a Saltie croc. And I should still say the creature as described in the reports is still unidentified. It is also not an Iguanodon and not described as being in any way like an Iguanodon-DD]

Lake Kandy Monster

A photosearch turned up this photo of a large swimming water monitor in a lake in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and labelled as "The Lake Kandy Monster"



Location of Lake Kandy 

This is evidently one of the creatures that Bernard Heuvelmans classified as a "Buru" only the differences in habit and habitat make this less likely. This creature looks like the standard water monitor (Varanus salvador) but there are local record sizes for the monitor at 12 feet long or longer, bigger than the Komodo dragon. In the Philippines there is a similar sort of water monitor of a simlar size and we have a photo of it. In all these cases of outsized water monitors (including also in the Meikong River) it is likely we are dealing with a larger and similar species rather than the commoner water monitor. This would be the species which Heuvelmans says can be found living in symbiosis with saltwater crocodiles. This sounds unlikely but it at least does indicate the witnesses do discriminate this species from the commoner, smaller water monitors and we are still talking about the same Cryptid category. It is also confused with the similarly-named Varanus salvadorii.

More on Burus, Druks and such

Illustration of the Buru by Neave Parker of the British Museum of Natural History.

Online Encyclopedia definition for Buru (evidently quoting the Wikipedia)

Buru (cryptozoology)

The Buru was an aquatic reptile said to have lived in Jiro (also spelled and pronounced as Ziro) valley, a small town in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, at some undefined time in the past. In 1947, Professor Christopher von Furer-Haimendorf was the first westerner to be told about the Buru. By that time, the animals had reportedly already become extinct in the valley. According to the Apatani elders, when their forefathers migrated to Jiro valley, the valley was primarily a marsh which was populated by Burus. The Apatani people decided to settle in the valley because of its fertility and good climate. But every now and then they would have confrontations with burus. So they decided to drain the marsh of its water and thus eliminate the Burus. Most of the Burus died because of the drainage, and many supposedly went underground into the springs. The last Buru was said to be reported by a young woman, who sighted it in a spring one night while she was drawing water. The startled lady told her father about the incident. The next day the whole village helped fill the spring with stones and clay. Identity Traditionally, there has been speculation that the Buru was an unidentified member of the order crocodilia. Tellingly, crocodiles or alligators are also called "Buru" by the Apatanis. There is large population of crocodiles which live in caves in North Africa, quite far from open water, so an underground existence is not improbable for persecuted Indian crocodiles. The mere fact that crocodilians are called "Buru" may not however be very significant, since the Buru is described with monitor-like characteristics such as an elongated neck and a forked tongue. The native name of the Komodo dragon is "Land Crocodile". Both Bernard Heuvelmans.[1] and Roy Mackal regard the Buru to be a large Komodo dragon-like monitor lizard, and there are fossils of such a creature to be found in the Indian subcontinent. Heuvelmans notes similar reported creatures from Western India under the name of "jhoors" where they seem to merge into the Iranian traditional dragon or ahi (Azi Dahaka), which in Iranian art is basically a local stylistic adaptation of the Chinese dragon. George Eberhart notes rumors of a similar creature in the Tigris marshes of Iraq, called the afa, possibly the same thing as ahi. Heuvelmans also notes in his checklist of unknown animals that similar reports to the buru also come from Burma, and they might also relate to a reported lizardlike Meikong River monster. Cryptozoologist Karl Shuker claims that the Buru was a giant lungfish stating that this provides a far more comprehensive, comparable match not only in terms of morphology but also with regard to behaviour. Shuker believes this explains the Buru's alleged ability to survive hidden at the bottom of lakes during the dry season.[2] Shuker's view admittedly does nothing to account for the various other buru-like creatures as cited in this article. It also does not account for the specified features of the long neck and forked tongue. References ↑ Heuvelmans,Bernard "Annotated Checklist of Apparently Unknown Animals with which Cryptozoology is Concerned," CRYPTOZOOLOGY, Vol 5, 1986, P.1, ISSN 0736-7023 http://www.newanimal.org/buru.htm

The Dragon of Persia, from a copy of the Falnama

Note that  accompanied by a Wonderbird evidently equated to the dragon

 and possibly representing  a Firebird from Russia and Central Asia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Bhutan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druk

Heuvelmans in his Checklist entry on the Buru specified it was identical to the dragon represented on the flag of Buthan. This dragon is known as the Druk.(most likely linguistically related to Dragon)

From the Wikipedia:The Druk (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་) is the "Thunder Dragon" of Bhutanese mythology and a Bhutanese national symbol. A druk appears on the Bhutanese Flag, holding jewels to represent wealth. In the Dzongkha language, Bhutan is called Druk Yul, or Land of Druk, and Bhutanese leaders are called Druk Gyalpo, Dragon Kings. During the Bhutanese mock election in 2007, all four mock parties were called the Druk colour Party^[1]. The national anthem of Bhutan, Druk tsendhen, translates into English as "The Kingdom of Druk".

Similar lake monster reports come from the Brahmaputra drainage over the border into Tibet.


The Buru as represented by "Wolf's Den" for the Cryptid Fieldbook

I had formerly reposted my opinions about the Buru on this blog in the article
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/11/some-more-on-oriental-dragon.html

I did just find a link to this while googling:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cryptolist/message/7899?l=1

Heuvelmans Checklist of Apparantly Unknown Animals, CRYPTOZOOLOGY, vol. 5, 1986, p. 20

"Amphibious animals, probably huge monitor lizards, some up to 20 feet in length-- and thus larger than the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)-- currently reported in India and neighboring countries. In the Gir area (Kathiawar Penninsula), where they are called jhoor, they are largely mythicized, but they have been fairly well observed in the Sundabarans (mouths of the Ganges), where, strangely enough, they live in symbiosis with the Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)

In Assam, where they are known as the Buru to the Apa Thanis,seem to have been exterminated in modern times (Izzard 1951, Mackal 1980), in Buthan, however, some have been sin one of the Northern lakes and once even by the king himself (referring to an issue of National Geographic but not cited by Heuvelmans) they have also been reported in Burma (as the Bu-Rin, again not cirted by Heuvelmans directly). There is even a historical reference extantof their existance in Sumatra in the 16th Century (Heuvelmans 1965)"

What is stiking to me at this point is the large size, up to 20 feet long, and the part about the symbiosis with C. porosus. Both of those things are in contrast with the Buru on the one hand and the other purported giany monitors on the other.

At this point in time, what I propose now is this:

There is a true Crocodile monitor seen in New Guinea often confused with the Tree crocodile monitor but at approximately double the length. It is amphibious, at home on land and in the water, and can tolerate both saltwater and freshwater. It has evolved some sort of a symbiosis with C. porosus. It therefore (my inference) is possibly found throughout the same range as C. porosus. (This is the "Aha!" part) Therefore the larger creature found at the Sundabarans, in the Andaman Islands and down to Sumatra, and in other places, is the same as the Guanjan or snake-crocodile in New Guinea and Melanesia and the Ngarara of Fiji-to-New Zealand, probably in its occasional and not its regular range. It is not the Buru, it is much longer and especially has a much longer tail. It possibly ranged as far as the Persian Gulf at one time, as C. porosus seems to have done.

It s still my feeling that the Buru is another giant monitor and especially since its description and measurements match exactly those given for "Dragons" in Burma, the Meikong and Southern China (probably as far as Taiwan, but the ones in the Phillipines seem to match the ones in New Zealand instead. More information on this score would be very helpful!)

At present, officially the Sea-crocodile lizard has been assumed to be the same as the New Guinean Tree-crocodile lizard or Atrellia. Provisionally, the species could be referred to as Varanus cf-salvadorii. Hopefully, somebody with access to museum specimens might be able to come up with already-collected specimens. The length of 20 feet at least matches Roman-era reports of Dragons in India.

Hope this helps. Best Wishes, Dale D.

The following two photos of Komodo dragons were used to illutrate different internet articles on these South-Asian dragons, including reports from Southern China.  While they are are not in themselves authoritative representations of such creatures directly, they do indicate what people think they are talking about. These creatures are always generally given the same size and body shape with four legs, usually stating ith separate clawed digits, a long tail and a scaly fat body with a distinct longer neck to the front of it. The fact that most of the descriptions match as far as body shape goes is significant: Exceptions contrary to the general run of the reports are recorded for Burus but are noted to come from an interview with a single esteemed member of society but unfortunately somebody with whom there was a very difficult language barrier. This same individual stated that the teeth were like a wild boar's teeth, the young were born in wayter, and that the legs were like "Flanges" on the side of the body. ALL of these statements must be viewed with suspicion and this was noted in Izzard's initial reports.

 

 

Afa
Unknown LIZARD of the Middle East.
Etymology: Madan (Marsh Arab) word.
Physical description: Large lizard.
Distribution: Marshes at the mouth of the
Tigris River, Iraq.
Possible explanation: An undescribed species
of Monitor lizard (Family Varanidae), large car-
nivorous reptiles that live in tropical areas.
Source: Wilfred Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs
(New York: Dutton, 1964), p. 115.

Buru
Unknown Lizard of Central Asia.
Etymology: Apatani and Nisi (Sino-Tibetan)
word, possibly from its call.
Physical  description:  Roundish,  elongated
body. Length, 11–14 feet. Mottled blue-black
above.  Broad  white  band  on  the  underside.
Head, 20 inches. One account gives it three
plates on the head, one on the top and on each
side. Eyes are close behind a flat-tipped snout.
Flat  teeth,  except  for  a  single  pair  of  large,
pointed teeth in both the upper and lower jaws.
Forked  tongue.  Neck,  3  feet. Three  lines  of
short spines run down its back and sides. Back,
18 inches wide. One account said it has legs 20
inches long with clawed feet, while another only
gave it paired lateral flanges. Round, tapering
tail 3–5 feet long and fringed at the base.
Behavior: Completely aquatic. Raises its head
out of the water occasionally. Basks in the sun
on the bank in the summer. Remains in the
mud when the swamps dry up. Makes a hoarse,
bellowing noise. Does not eat fishes. Young are
born alive in the water. Can grab a man with its
tail and drag him underwater.
Distribution:Swamps and lakes near Ziro in the
Apatani Valley, Arunachal Pradesh Union Terri-
tory, India; 50 miles to the southwest in the Dafla
hills, Arunachal Pradesh Union Territory, India.
Significant sightings:In 1945 and 1946, James
Phillip Mills and Charles Stonor collected de-
scriptions of the Buru from the Apatani people,
who are said to have killed the last of them in
their area when they were draining swamps for
rice cultivation.
In 1948, Ralph Izzard and Charles Stonor vis-
ited a swamp in the Dafla hills near Chemgeng in
the hopes of finding a living Buru but returned
with conflicting stories from the Nisi people.
Present status: It may still be possible to find
skeletal remains of the animals in the Apatani
Valley, since the precise kill spots are still known.
Possible explanations:
(1) A surviving dinosaur of some type, sug-
gested by Ralph Izzard.
(2) An unknown species of Monitor lizard
(Varanus sp.), suggested by Roy Mackal.
(3) An unknown species of Crocodile (Order
Crocodylia), suggested by Tim Dinsdale.
(4) A large, swamp-dwelling Lungfish
(Order Lepidosireniformes) would explain
the Buru’s ability to keep submerged in
mud, according to Karl Shuker. The body
structure also matches a lungfish more than
a reptile. Its bellow might be caused by its
ventilating air.
(5) An unknown species of Bonytongue fish
similar to the Pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) of
South America, which also has an air blad-
der fashioned into a lung.
Sources: Christopher von Fürer-Haimendorf,
“The Valley of the Unknown,” Illustrated
London News 121 (November 8, 1947):
526–530; Ralph Izzard,The Hunt for the Buru
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1951);
Desmond Doig, “Bhutan,” National
Geographic 120 (September 1961): 384,
391–392; Tim Dinsdale,The Leviathans
(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966),
pp. 105–110; Roy P. Mackal, Searching for
Hidden Animals (Garden City, N.Y.:
Doubleday, 1980), pp. 79–98; Karl Shuker,
Extraordinary Animals Worldwide (London:
Robert Hale, 1991), pp. 54–61. [Karl Shuker's assertions that the estivation indicates a lungfish better than a crocodile or lizard is incorrect: both crocodiles and lizards are known to hibernate in the winter and estivate in the summer, and the lungfishes most like his model for the Buru live in permanent pools so they do not estivate. Furthermotre his assertion that a lungfish fits the description of the body shape better is simply false. The described body shape specifies a long flexible neck which the lungfish would never have.-DD]

Bu-Rin
Giant Snake of Southeast Asia.
Physical description: Length, 40–50 feet.
Behavior: Aquatic. Aggressive. Attacks swim-
mers and small boats.
Distribution: Near Putao, Myanmar.
Source: Alan Rabinowitz, Beyond the Last
Village: A Journey of Discovery in Asia’s
Forbidden Wilderness (Washington, D.C.:
Island Press, 2001), p. 116.

Lake and River Monster Sightings

Bhutan
Jigme Dorji National Park, lake in. Former king
Jigme Dorji Wangchuck saw a white, fast-swim-
ming  animal  in  a  lake  in  this  park.  Desmond
Doig, “Bhutan,” National Geographic 120 (Sep-
tember 1961): 384, 391–392.

China
Lake Changhai [Long Lake], Sichuan Province.
A Chinese scientist saw a 10-foot “miracle animal”
with a horse’s head and a huge body on October
12, 1984. Janet and Colin Bord,Unexplained Mys-
teries of the 20th Century (Chicago: Contemporary
Books, 1989), p. 355; UNEP-WCMC, Protected
Areas  Programme,  http://www.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/juizhaig.html

 Jianzhuhai  Lake,  Sichuan  Province.  UNEP-
WCMC,  Protected  Areas  Programme,  http://www.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/juizhaig.html.
Nuorilang  Lakes,  Sichuan  Province.  UNEP-
WCMC,  Protected  Areas  Programme,  http://www.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/juizhaig.html. 

 Wuhan, lake near, Hubei Province. In 1987, a
group of biologists led by Chen Mok Chun re-
ported seeing three large, grayish-white, toadlike an-
imals with mouths 6 feet wide and huge eyes swim-
ming toward them. One of the creatures extended
an  enormous  tongue  that  grabbed  their  tripod-
mounted  cameras.  Karl  Shuker,  “Lesser-Known
Lake Monsters,” Fate43 (September 1990): 75–86.
[This is badly exaggerated but the creatures are short-snouted crocodilelike animals with protrusable tongues. The descriptions match a type of giant monitor lizard better than anything else. The sizes are badly exaggerated but only the width of the mouth is specifically given a measure-DD]

Malaysia
Tasek Bera, Pahang State.
Tasek Chini, Pahang State. Snakelike or long-
necked monsters, born at the top of the Gunong
Chini  Mountain,  are  said  to  guard  an  ancient
Khmer city submerged in the lake. Phyllis Ben-
jamin, “Making Waves in the Cryptozoo,” INFO
Journal, no. 57 (July 1989): 29; Harold Stephens,
Return  to  Adventure  Southeast  Asia (Miranda,
Calif.: Wolfenden, 2000), pp. 11, 14.

Tibet
Lake Wenbu [also Wembo or Menbu]. In June
1980, farmers and party officials saw an animal
with a long neck and big head. It was held respon-
sible for the disappearance of a yak and a villager
who had been rowing in the lake. Karl Shuker,
 “Lesser-Known Lake Monsters,” Fate 43 (September 1990): 75–86.
Vietnam
Mekong  River.  Lizardlike Water Monster
Mottled green, brown, and yellow. Length, 15
feet. PURSUIT articles quoting: Peter R. Kann,
“Vietnam Journey,” Wall Street Journal, Novem-
ber 10, 1969, p. 1; Wall Street Journal, October
21,  1992;  “Making  for  the  Mekong,”  Fortean
Times

Indonesia
Lake Patenggang, southwest of Bandung, Java.
Giant fish, turtle, or reptile 18 feet long. Times
(London), February 7, 1977; Karl Shuker, “Lesser-
Known  Lake  Monsters,”  Fate 43  (September
1990): 75–86.

 Definitions are from Eberhart, George, Mysterious Creatures, 2002

.

Dragon Lizard Bunyips

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-australian-mythical-creatures.php

http://hyrotrioskjan.deviantart.com/art/Bunyip-Version-3-263073757
"A few days ago I was searching in my archives for a sketch when I found my two first versions
[link] of the Bunyip (on the base of Naomi Noviks description)
I thought it was time for a new one"[this is a fictional Bunyip although still based on tradition-DD]

The "Big Goanna" Bunyip is sometimes said to stand up and walk on its hind legs, at which times it can be twice as tall as a regular human being.

Dirawong

The first Dreamtime creature to appear on this list, the Dirawong is a goanna (an Australian monitor lizard) Creator Being that departed knowledge and protection to the Bundjalung Nation. Comprised of 15 Aboriginal tribes, the Bundjalung believe that the Dirawong shared with them the knowledge of medicine, bush foods, astronomy, law, and cultural traditions such as dances, head gear, body designs, and songs. The Dirawong is supposed to resemble a Megalania prisca, a 7-10 meters long [~20 to 30 feet long] goanna that [supposedly] went extinct around 40,000 years ago. In addition to teaching the Bundjalung how to live and survive, the Dirawong is eternally engaged in a battle with the Creator Being known as the Rainbow Snake. The Dirawong once engaged in an epic battle with the Rainbow Snake when it had misbehaved. The resulting struggle resulted in the creation of parts of the Richmond River, Snake Island, and Pelican Island. At the end of the struggle, the Rainbow Snake made it to the ocean and became an island, supposedly New Zealand. When the Dirawong caught up with the Rainbow Snake, he laid down facing the sea to guard against its return. The Goanna Headland at Evans Head, New South Wales is believed to be the Dirawong’s physical body. The Dirawong is also believed to be associated with rain. In the Goanna Headland there is a rain cave where the Elders of the Bundjalung Nation used to go and conduct ceremonies for rain. The Dirawong continues to this day to be an important influence to the Bundjalung people. In 1985, sixteen hectares of the Goanna Headland became the first aboriginal land grant in New South Wales. The legend and history of the Dirawong is a fascinating one and can be further explored.
http://www.multilingualarchive.com/ma/enwiki/en/Dirawong/1

Dirawong

In the mythology of Bundjalung Nation (represented by 13 tribes), the Dirawong is a goanna that taught the people the laws by which they should live. It is known as a benevolent protector of its people (the Bundjalung Nation) from the Rainbow Snake.

Goanna Headland, at Evans Head in New South Wales (one of the most easterly point's on mainland Australia), is believed to be the body of the mythical Dirawong

Tradition

Bundjalung Nation tradition tells the story about the creation of Snake Island (in the Evans River) and Goanna Headland as a fight between the Dirawong and the Rainbow Snake. According to the legend, the Rainbow Snake had been very bad. What he did is a secret, and cannot be revealed, but it was so bad that a Weeum (or clever man) called on the Dirawong to help protect a Bird from the Waugal (or Rainbow Snake). Only Dirawong was powerful enough to deal with Rainbow Snake. Dirawong chased Rainbow Snake down towards the coast and as they went they formed parts of the Richmond River. At Woodburn they left the Richmond River and kept on going east. Half-way down the Evans River, Dirawong caught Rainbow Snake, the Snake turned around and bit Goanna on the head, Dirawong then withdrew from the battle in order to eat some herbs to recover (heal) from the snakebite, when he felt better he resumed his chase. Meanwhile, Rainbow Snake had reached Evans Head. Rainbow Snake looked around. Dirawong was nowhere to be seen, so Rainbow Snake decided to go back west. The Rainbow Snake then went into the river and coiled itself around and created Snake Island. As he turned his body made another small island in the river, now known as Pelican Island.
When Rainbow Snake spotted Dirawong heading towards him, Rainbow Snake quickly turned, and this time Rainbow Snake kept going until he reached the Ocean, and made himself into an Island (Possibly the Country of New Zealand) so Dirawong wouldn't recognise Rainbow Snake. Dirawong reached the Coast. Dirawong then laid down next to the coast facing the Sea, waiting for Rainbow Snake to come back. And you can still hear Rainbow Snake and see Goanna today at Evans Head.

Physical identity of the Rainbow Snake

The Snake was quite possibly a "Wonambi naracoortensis (a non-venomous snake of five to six metres in length, or a Liasis sp., (Bluff Downs Giant Python), which grew up to ten metres long, and is the largest Australian snake known"

Physical identity of the Dirawong

The Dirawong was quite possibly a "Megalania prisca" (a carnivorous, goanna-like lizard, at least seven metres long, maybe ten metres long, and weighing up to 600 kilograms, that become extinct around 40,000 years ago.)

Physical identity of the Bird

The Bird was quite possibly a Dromornis stirtoni, (Stirton's Thunder Bird, Miocene epoch) was a flightless bird three metres tall that weighed half a tonne. It is one of the largest birds so far discovered. It inhabited subtropical open woodlands and may have been carnivorous. It was heavier than the Moa and taller than the Aepyornis.
[Dromornis might also be the origin of especially birdlike "Bunyips" when they were sighted lurking around waterholes.
Example from Eberhart: Gauarge
Mythical Freshwater Monster of Australia.
Etymology: Australian word.
Physical description: Like a featherless [Giant, not necessarily featherless-DD] emu.
Behavior: Drags bathers down into a
whirlpool. Habitat: Water holes.
Possible explanation: Folk memory or extrapolation based on fossils of an Australian theropod dinosaur such as Kakuru, which lived in the Early Cretaceous, 110 million years ago, in South Australia.[A living animal is more likely than a native reconstruction and the fossil is from the wrong part of Australia-DD]
Sources: Gilbert Whitley, “Mystery Animals of Australia,” Australian Museum Magazine
(1940): 132–139; Bernard Heuvelmans, On the Track of Unknown Animals (New York:
Hill and Wang, 1958), pp. 193–194.]

Interpretation of the creation myth

Why did the Dirawong withdraw from the battle with Rainbow Snake in order to recover? "As Socrates explains in the Laches, standing firm in battle cannot be courage, for sometimes standing firm in battle is simply a foolish endurance that puts oneself and others at needless risk. The courageous person can recognize when it is reasonable to stand one's ground in battle and when it isn't." What virtuous traits of character is the Dirawong showing when it withdrew from the battle with Rainbow Snake in order to recover? The Dirawong is showing in its action of withdrawing, that having (from a spiritual and psychological perspective) the right motives, aims, concerns, and perspective is more important then the tactical battle. The Dirawong's motives were: to get help for its wounds (survive), to survey (location) where the rainbow snake went, concern for the bird (family); it knew that the Rainbow Snake may have won that day's battle, and in the future they will work together to create more land and rivers on other planets. See also

• Australian megafauna

References

http://www.nimbinweb.com.au/bundjalung/index.htm
• http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-character/

Australian Giant Monitor
Unknown LIZARD of Australia. Variant names: Burrunjor (in Northern Terri- tory), Mungoon-galli, Murra murri (in the Blue Mountains), Whowie (in Riverina). Physical description: Length, 20–30 feet or more. Behavior: Attacks cattle. Distribution: Northern New South Wales; Arnhem Land, Northern Territory; Cape York, Queensland. Significant sightings: In 1975, a group of bushwalkers found large tracks and tail marks at the edge of the Wallangambe Wilderness in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. On December 27, 1975, a farmer near Cess- nock, New South Wales, saw a bulky, 30-foot monitor lizard moving through scrub brush. It was mottled gray in color, with dark stripes along the back and tail, and stood 3 feet off the ground. In early 1979, herpetologist Frank Gordon was driving his Land Rover in the Wattagan Mountains in New South Wales south of Can- berra when he saw a reptile 27–30 feet long by the side of the road. It rose up and ran away on all four legs into the neighboring woods. In July 1979, cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy was called to a freshly plowed field by a farmer. Across the field were thirty or so tracks that seemed to have been made by an enormous lizard. While most of the tracks had been ruined by rain, Gilroy was able to make a plaster cast of one that had been preserved.
Possible explanations: (1) The Perentie (Varanus giganteus), Aus- tralia’s largest lizard, grows to 8 feet long; some individuals might attain 10 feet. It is cream-colored, with dark-brown speckles, and it occurs from western Queensland to the coast of Western Australia. (2) Surviving "Megalania prisca" [Invalid name-DD], a 15- to 21- foot lizard that lived in central Australia in foot lizard that lived in central Australia in the Pliocene and Pleistocene (2 mil- lion–20,000 years ago). At 1,300 pounds, it weighed ten times as much as the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) and was prob- ably an active predator and scavenger. Its teeth were nearly 1 inch long. At least some specimens had a sagittal crest.[However the same structure is on the head of the smaller and related Perentie lizard-but it is not visable externaly on the living animal's head-DD]
Sources: Rex Gilroy, “Cessnock’s Fantastic 30 Ft. Lizard Monsters,” Strange Phenomena and Psychic Australian, March 1979, at http://www.internetezy.com.au/~mj129/ strangephenomenonr.html; Rex Gilroy, “Australia’s Lizard Monsters,” Fortean Times, no. 37 (Spring 1982): 32–33; Rex Gilroy, “Giant Lizards of the Australian Bush,” Australasian Ufologist 4, no. 4 (2000): 17-20.

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/lost-tapes/devil-dragon/

A LIVING FOSSIL? In Australia, locals speak of a giant, prehistoric lizard that continues to roam the rainforests some 40,000 years after it's said to have gone extinct. Cryptozoologists say this creature, the so-called "Devil Dragon," is a living fossil known to science as Megalania prisca, the largest ground-dwelling lizard that's ever lived. Megalania was at least twice the size of today's Komodo dragon. With large, serrated teeth that bend inward and sharp claws for ripping through flesh, Megalania was likely a fearsome predator.

THE EVIDENCE: Over the last three decades, several reports of unexplained and mysterious human disappearances in Australia have been associated with strange animal imprints. Some witnesses speak of giant, fallen tree logs that scamper away when startled. Though a complete fossil skeleton of Megalania has never been found, a farmer in Queensland, Australia found bones of this prehistoric creature on his farm. They tested to be only 300 years old. Whether or not Megalania continues to roam the Australian rainforests today, it surely did encounter humans when Aborigines arrived on the continent 40,000 to 125,000 years ago.