Dragons in the Dust

Dragons in the Dust tells the story of these lizards and the world in which they lived. The book explores the Pleistocene, the time of the ice ages, when climates changed and glaciers advanced over vast stretches of the globe. In Australia the changes in environment had an impact on the evolution of that continent's unique fauna. While mammals ruled elsewhere, here reptiles held their dominance. Large monitor lizards survive to this day, but the discovery of fossil remains of Megalania revealed that their ancestors were true giants and formidable predators. How scientists have reconstructed how these animals lived and what factors encouraged their evolution make up part of the story. What caused their extinction remains a mystery, and one that makes an intriguing conclusion to this look at a true dragon of the past.

Ralph E. Molnar was for many years Section Leader for Vertebrate and Invertebrate Palaeontology and Geology and Senior Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Queensland Museum in Australia. Now retired, he lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.