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Posted by CD on June 12, 1998 at 10:47:22:
In Reply to: Re: Biggest Reptile posted by Adam Britton on June 12, 1998 at 08:39:17:
Adam,
The longest reptile is NOT the boa constrictor but the reticulated python. And there are probably a few folks out there that would argue for the anaconda but officially it's the retic, for now at least.
: That's not quite right. The longest reptile is definitely the boa constrictor, but the largest has to be the saltwater crocodile (C. porosus) if you also consider body weight - although I must admit I don't know the body weight of a 27 ft boa constrictor. The largest saltwater crocodile ever reported was 33 feet long, but a head which was supposed to be from this animal was measured and it was calculated that the croc it came from was around 19 feet long - "slight" exaggeration, then. The second largest was a 28 foot saltie shot in Papua New Guinea by a hide hunter's wife. The croc was so heavy that they simply couldn't shift it (so the facts are unproven), but the story remains and after being interviewed the hunter's story does have some credence, I've been told. There was a 23 foot saltie shot in the Roper River in Australia in 1971 - this was a reliable report, as was the 20 foot saltwater crocodile shot in the Mary River and measured by Conservation Commission officials. Really large crocodiles are rare, though - today, you'll be lucky to see one more than 17 feet, although it's clear that they do exist - just as 7 foot tall humans exist. A 28 foot saltwater crocodile, if one did exist, would weight over 3000 kg! Even a 20 foot saltwater crocodile weighs over 1000kg.
: The largest lizard is the Komodo Dragon, as the original poster pointed out, which grows to around 11 or 12 feet in length, although there are, of course, stories of gigantic 20 foot beasts which are likely more fiction than fact. The black caiman is not a lizard - it's a crocodile - and its maximum size is 14 feet.
: Humans just love "big fish" stories, and you really have to take some of these tales of extreme-sized animals with a pinch of salt. It's very common for people to spot crocodiles and declare them to be 25 foot monsters, where in fact they're only about 14 feet long.
: Adam Britton
