Giant goanna gives Australian man a shock after climbing across his house
Eric Holland heard a banging noise and emerged from his shed to discover a five-foot goanna splayed across his side wall
A man who discovered a five-foot goanna climbing across the side of his house in Australia said he “couldn't have been more shocked if a Martian had landed”.
Eric Holland, 80, was working in the shed in his back garden when he heard a banging noise and emerged to discover the giant reptile splayed across the side wall of his house.
He said the creature’s claws “had to be bloody 40 millimetres [1.6 inches] long at least".
"It blew the cobwebs out of me," he told ABC News.
"He climbed up the bricks and got under the eve and his tail was twitching and hitting on the pipe... My yellow streak started to show and I jumped back in the shed."
This goanna was thought to be a lace monitor, a native Australian reptile, which can grow to up to about seven feet in length. For the most part goannas are wary of humans, but are considered dangerous on account of their sharp teeth and claws.
Mr Holland, who lives in Albury in New South Wales, said the goanna quickly left the property and has not been seen since.
He took a photograph of the creature and was surprised when it made the local paper, though the image has since gone viral on social media.
"I couldn't have been more shocked if a Martian had landed," he said.
"I'll be wearing my long pants and my big boots outside, that's for sure.”
Daily Telegraph
Incidentally, the original text said that '...goannas are
weary of humans'. I think they meant 'wary'.
I dunno, though...