GIANT snakes, more than three metres long and up to 30 centimetres in
diameter, roamed Australia less than 100 000 years ago. And their anatomy casts
new light on the evolution of their modern counterparts.
A recent paper in Nature by John Scanlon of University of New South
Wales and Michael Lee of the University of Queensland describes their study of
two species of fossil wonambi, a giant snake which only became extinct during
the Pleistocene era. The wonambi, evidence of which has been found across the
continent, may still have been around in Australia when the first humans
arrived.…
