14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers suspect that, as global temperatures continue to increase, giant lizards are likely to once again roam the Earth.
Some of the lizard species now inhabiting our planet could grow to measure an impressive 10 feet (about 3 meters) in length. Though they will not change their dietary habits and continue feeding on plants alone, they will nonetheless be a frightful sight.
The University of California and University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers now saying that global warming and climate change have high chances of reshaping biodiversity have reached this conclusion after analyzing the fossil remains of a giant lizard believed to have lived roughly 40 million years ago.
The fossil remains were discovered in Myanmar, Burma, in the 1970s, Daily Mail reports.
This ancient giant lizard species was about 6 feet (1.8 meters) long, and weighed over 60 pounds (27 kilometers).
Because of its body size, it was named after The Doors' singer Jim Morrison. Thus, it got the name Babaturex morrisoni, which translates as “bearded Morrison.”
Specialists say that, at the time when this lizard walked the Earth, average temperatures were significantly higher than they are nowadays.
They say that, as far as they can tell, these high temperatures were the reason why this ancient species grew as large as it did.
“What's cool is that this is an example of gigantism in herbivorous lizards, which tells us that if you’re a reptile and vegetarian, you have to have a warm environment,” paleontologist Patricia Holroyd argues.
“We think the warm climate during that period of time allowed the evolution of a large body size and the ability of plant-eating lizards to successfully compete in mammal faunas,” vertebrate paleontologist Jason Head further explains.
Therefore, should global temperatures increase once again, it is likely that the lizards that people are all too familiar with will not take long to balloon to noteworthy sizes.
Apparently, other species such as turtles, snakes and crocodiles could also grow even bigger than they currently are once exposed to higher temperatures.