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Most interesting extinct australian animal starting with 'W'
Wakaleo
Weewarrasaurus
Wintonotitan
Wonambi
Wakaleo, a cenozoic smaller marsupial lion Weewarrasaurus, a cretaceous ornithopod dinosaur Wintonotitan, a cretaceous sauropod dinosaur Wonambi, a cenozoic giant constrictor snake
Finally pulled my finger out and finished my “box” legendaries. Clearly based around the concept of the rainbow serpent of Aboriginal myth, they both attempt to embody different aspects of the being. Those without hands shaped the world; with water, wind and grit. High above and deep below; their coursing bodies carve the land. Impassioned rains and raging torrents; mercy and wrath together. The same but different; both shepherds and wolves to fledgling man. — Ability Info — — Attack Info —
Almost-Living Fossils Month #14 -- Ancient Snakes
While the evolutionary origin of snakes is still rather poorly understood, one very early branch of their lineage -- known as the madtsoiids -- were a particularly long-lived group.
Originating back in the mid-Cretaceous (~100 mya), these “primitive” snakes were found mostly in the southern continents of Gondwana (known from South America, Africa, India, and Australia), but a few also spread into Europe. They were either some of the earliest true snakes or perhaps ophidians very closely related to them, and may have retained small hindlimbs that were slightly more well-developed than the vestigal ones of some modern snakes.
They ranged in length from under 1m (3′3″) to at least 7m (23′), with biggest of them rivaling some of the very largest living snakes in size.
They would have been similar to pythons, non-venomous and relying on constriction to kill their prey, although they had less flexible skulls than their modern relatives and couldn’t easily swallow animals much larger than their own heads. At least some of the Cretaceous species would have preyed on smaller dinosaurs, with one fossil even preserving a mid-sized madtsoiid in a sauropod nest alongside a hatchling.
Although the madtsoiids survived the end-Cretaceous extinction quite well and kept going throughout most of their range for the first half of the Cenozoic, most of them eventually disappeared in the Eocene-Oligocene extinction about 33 million years ago.
Aside from a single possible Late Olgiocene/Early Miocene record from South America (~29-21 mya), after that point the madtsoiids were found only in Australia, where they persisted almost into modern times.
Wonambi naracoortensis was one of the last of the Australian madtsoiids, living from the mid-Miocene (~11 mya) to at least the Late Pleistocene (~40,000 years ago). It was also one of the larger members of the group, 5-6m long (16′5″-19′8″), and seems to have been an ambush predator that lurked around waterholes to catch drinking animals.
The last madtsoiids went extinct at the same time as many of the other Australian megafauna, and it’s not clear exactly what caused them to die out. Humans had arrived in Australia about 20,000 years earlier, and hunting -- either directly targeting the large snakes, or simply gradually reducing their available prey -- combined with a changing climate may have been too much for them to handle.
Cenovember Week 3!
Click on the images for more information about all these amazing creatures!
Wonambi
Image source unknown. Accessed at pinterest here
[Among the many names for Rainbow Serpents in Australian Aboriginal myths, I chose Wonambi because of its paleo connection]
Wonambi CR 21 N Dragon An enormous serpent flies through the sky, its scales shining with all the colors of the rainbow. Its dragon-like head bears an expression of smug superiority.
Wonambi are powerful dragons especially attuned to the natural world. The body of a wonambi glows with a radiance nearly the equal of the sun, and they have strange powers over light. Some sages believe that the prismatic spray spell first arose from these creatures and was given to or stolen by mortal wizards in the distant past.
Many peoples of the dry wastes consider the mighty wonambi to be gods incarnate on earth, and the wonambi do little to dispel such notions. The tribes that pay homage to a wonambi do so with stories, songs and offerings of material goods thrown into watering holes, and those that earn a wonambi’s favor are blessed with clean water, frequent rains and favorable hunting. Wonambi are often demanding taskmasters, however, and may punish those that disappoint them or break their taboos with disease, transformation or death. Some shamans willingly sacrifice themselves to the wonambi to gain greater wisdom or to atone for the crimes of another; such holy men are usually brought back to life by the wonambi in a new form, blessed with wisdom or strength to return to their people.
Few are foolish enough to confront a wonambi in direct combat, and fewer still are those with a chance of victory. Wonambi like to tease their opponents by reshaping the battlefield, throwing up obstacle after obstacle in the hopes of dissuading further violence. If this fails, wonambi are savage combatants, augmenting their already mighty melee abilities with spells and destroying foes with blasts of lightning and their searing breath weapons. A wonambi grows to nearly 80 feet long and weighs 60 tons.
Jeff Jones
Selected black and white sketches by Blas Gallego
@ragingwaves #wonambi Twins love the waterpark #day3 #seasonpasses (at Raging Waves Waterpark)
