Huge Ancient Lizard Named After "the Lizard King" Morrison

Imagine a giant lizard, six feet long and about the size of a sturdy dog, lumbering towards you through the ancient tropical flora of Southeast Asia. Now imagine that again, but set to the music of Jim Morrison's band, The Doors. Now, is this describing a bad Vietnam-era acid flashback, or bona fide paleontology? Thanks to researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, it's the latter.

Led by Jason Head, assistant professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a team of U.S. paleontologists has discovered what is one of the biggest known lizards to ever have lived on land. And they named it after "the Lizard King" himself, Jim Morrison.

At a weight of about 60 pounds and length of almost six feet, the creature — scientifically named Barbaturex morrisoni, meaning "Lizard King" — roamed around about 36 to 40 million years ago, according to the UNL Press. At that time, Earth was experiencing a warm period. There was no ice at the poles, and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were very high, conditions favorable for the evolution of large lizards. "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 succesffully compete in mammal faunas," said Head.

The fossils of the lizard were actually discovered in the 1970s in Myanmar, but hadn't been studied until Head and his University of California, Berkeley-based colleague Patricia Holroyd began examining the fossils a few years ago. The B. morrisoni had a lot of characteristics similar to modern lizards like chameleons and bearded dragons, but was much bigger.

When he first saw the fossil, Head explained that he thought, "That's neat. Based on its teeth, it's a plant-eating lizard from a time period and a place from which we don't have a lot of information." But after studying its modern relatives, he says, "I realized just how big this lizard was. It struck me that we had something here that was quite large - and unique."

As for the Morrison inspiration? Head explains, "I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research. 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."

"Come together, one more time / Get together, one more time / Get together, one more time..."