Megalania, also known as Varanus  priscus (which means "Ancient Lizard Beast"), is a giant monitor lizard from Australia that grew approx- imately five to seven meters long,  although it is difficult to estimate  its size due to a lack of complete  fossil skeletons. The megalania was  similar to the Komodo dragon, its closest extant relative, meaning that it possibly could have been venomous. However, it is unlikely  that we will know for sure unless a skull fossil is discovered. If it   was indeed venomous, the venom  would have been a nasty hemotoxin,  which increases bleeding by stopping coagulation in the blood.  This prehistoric butcher lived in  Pleistocene Australia, living up to Australia's stereotype of deadly  fauna. It lived in an open semiarid scrub where it hunted the giant marsupial Diprotodon and competed  against other apex predators like the crocodile Quinkana, the snake  Wonambi, and the predatory marsupial Thylacoleo. It also  possibly lived alongside early Australian aboriginals, who arrived on the continent around 65,000 years ago. These prehistoric people tended to use fire to hunt; they set fire  to forests to flush out animals.  Their presence had a dramatic impact on the Australian megafauna,  including megalania, which all went extinct around 50,000 to 40,000 years ago.