Holmes says the telltale African vertebrae fossils belonged to a lizard that was about a metre- and-a-half long whose ability to swim may be key to figuring out how more than 30 million years later its ancestors turned up on the other side of the world.

Holmes says the ancient African Varanus specimen was found on land that was once the bottom of a river or small lake. "Whether the animals lived in the water or surrounding land, we don't know, but we do know that some modern day species of Varanus are comfortable swimming in fresh water."

The researchers agree that fresh-water swimming wouldn't get the African lizard all the way to Indonesia. Murray says the mystery of how the animals spread deepens when you consider ancient world geography. "From about 100 million years ago until 12 million years ago, Africa was completely isolated, surrounded by ocean, but somehow they got out of Africa during that period," said Murray. "That's why this paper is important because there was no known land connection."

Murray says one unproven theory of how Varanus moved out of Africa is that over millions of years, small land masses or micro-plates may have moved from one place to another, carrying their fauna with them.

Scientists were able to carry out a computer tomography or CT scan and used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the 5kg snake.

The images revealed the gradual disappearance of the rat's body. At the same time, the snake's intestine expanded, its gall bladder shrank and its heart increased in volume by 25 per cent.

The researchers, Henrik Lauridsen and Kasper Hansen, both from Aarhus University in Denmark, explained that the increase in the size of the snake's heart was probably associated with the energy it needed to digest its meal.

'It's a sit and wait predator,' explained Mr Lauridsen. 'It fasts for months and then eats a really large meal.

An attempt to illegally export marine iguanas, an emblematic species of the Galapagos, has been stopped by the Ecuadorian Environmental Police's dog unit.
The police were conducting routine inspections of cargo and luggage when Willy, one of the police dogs, found a cardboard box containing two iguanas. Despite being kept in poor conditions, fortunately both are still alive. However, the body of a baby sea turtle was also found in the box.
After the police inspection, the marine iguanas were delivered to the authorities of the Galapagos National Park.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado says stresses on the Utah population, which occur only in Washington County, include declines in habitat because of increasing urbanization, illicit trade and poaching, as well persecution by humans.
WildEarth Guardians filed a petition with the agency, seeking protections for Utah Gila monsters in January, with a 90-day finding that was due in April.
With no such finding, the group argued that the agency acted contrary to law and "unreasonably" delayed compliance with sections of the Endangered Species Act.