4 million years ago - the beginning of modern Australia
Record-breaking reptiles
As Australia's plant-eating animals became progressively bigger during the late Miocene and Pliocene, so did their predators. Giant pythons and crocodiles were among the heavy-weight flesh-eaters that would have been able to swiftly kill and eat prey the size of the hippo-like Euryzygoma.
Saltwater crocodile.
Photo: R&A Williams © Australian Museum.
The Saltwater Crocodile is the world's largest living reptile. It grows up to 9m long and weighs nearly a tonne. Today, Saltwater Crocodiles live in seas and estuaries around the tropical coasts of Australia and Asia, but four million-year-old fossils suggest that they may have originally evolved in fresh water.
The extinct Bluff Downs Python is the largest snake ever to have lived. Scientists estimate that it was 10m long with a girth the size of a dinner plate.
