Description The Perentie is the largest lizard in Australia. It has a long neck and a stout, robust body with long, tapering tail. It is yellow or cream with brown rosettes edged in dark brown on the back. The legs are dark with white spots. The head and neck are pale creamy-white with pattern of black lines and flecks.
Size The Perentie can grow to over 2.5m
Habitat around rocky hills and outcrops in arid areas. It shelters in burrows, which it digs with its powerful front legs and claws.
Food snakes, rabbits, birds, eggs and small marsupials such as wallabies. Young ones eat lizards, insects and small mammals
Breeding lays around 6-10 eggs in a burrow. The young hatch after 2-3 months
Range arid parts of South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory
Credits: Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
