It seems the late frontman of the Doors has taken a leap back in time from the music stage to the Eocene stage 34-40 million years ago. This latest discovery Barbaturex Morrisoni hails from south east Asia, and is a large herbivorous lizard. Coming in at 6ft long and weighing 27.7 kg, Barbaturex may not be the largest lizard of all time, nor the lizard king. But this behemoth comes close. It seems the unusually high temperatures of the Eocene led to the creature's immense size. Infact it is the largest herbivorous lizard ever found, and was so well adapted that it successfully competed with mammals for 4 million years!
Despite the creatures immense size (for a lizard) it was 'most likely preyed on by mammalian predators' according to Dr head, the scientist responsible for this unique discovery. Dr head explains his inspiration for the name of Morrisoni:
"I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research," Head said. "Some of their musical imagery includes reptiles and ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course 'The Lizard King', so it all kind of came together." This discovery is important for many reasons as Dr head explains. "Their existence seems to have depended on the climate being right to support large-bodied herbivorous creatures.Climate probably has a bigger influence on the evolution of plant-eating reptiles than we realised. It seems to be a more important factor than competition with other herbivorous mammals." And apparently also offers an insight into the future of earth's lizards 'Giant lizards could once again evolve' explains Dr Head 'but only if conditions are hot enough'. Looking at the way the Earth is going it seems as though this notion could become reality in the near future. But future animals is another topic, for another day. But it's good to know that the spirit of Jim Morrison 'the lizard king' lives on (or lived on)in our prehistoric past. Rock on Barbaturex!
Despite the creatures immense size (for a lizard) it was 'most likely preyed on by mammalian predators' according to Dr head, the scientist responsible for this unique discovery. Dr head explains his inspiration for the name of Morrisoni:
"I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research," Head said. "Some of their musical imagery includes reptiles and ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course 'The Lizard King', so it all kind of came together." This discovery is important for many reasons as Dr head explains. "Their existence seems to have depended on the climate being right to support large-bodied herbivorous creatures.Climate probably has a bigger influence on the evolution of plant-eating reptiles than we realised. It seems to be a more important factor than competition with other herbivorous mammals." And apparently also offers an insight into the future of earth's lizards 'Giant lizards could once again evolve' explains Dr Head 'but only if conditions are hot enough'. Looking at the way the Earth is going it seems as though this notion could become reality in the near future. But future animals is another topic, for another day. But it's good to know that the spirit of Jim Morrison 'the lizard king' lives on (or lived on)in our prehistoric past. Rock on Barbaturex!
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