Wonambi

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Wonambi
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Madtsoiidae Genus: Wonambi Species: W. naracoortensis
Binomial name
Wonambi naracoortensis

Wonambi naracoortensis, part of the extinct megafauna of Australia, was a five to six metre long snake, not a python like Australia's other large constrictors (such as the carpet snakes and the fossil Montypythonoides) but a member of an extinct group, Madtsoiidae.

First described from locations in South Australia, it was given the name Wonambi, from the description given by local Aboriginal people of a local serpent of the Dreaming. This serpent, a variety commonly referred to by both Aboriginal people and Europeans as "Rainbow Snakes", were often held responsible for the creation of major features of the landscape. For example, the Waugal, of the Western Australian Noongar people has been thought to have been related to Wonambi.

Wonambi seems to have been an non-venomous ambush predator, living during the Pleistocene Ice Age period, in natural sun-traps, beside local waterholes, where they would ambush kangaroo, wallaby and other prey coming to the water to drink, killing them by constriction. For this reason, children were forbidden in Aboriginal culture to play at such places, and only allowed to visit when accompanied by an adult. Mapping such locations in Western Australia, has been found to be closely associated with areas the Noongar people regard as Waugal sacred sites.

Tim Flannery in his book "The Future Eaters"^[1] claims that this animal, along with other Australian megafauna, became extinct as a result of activities of the Australian Aborigines (for example firestick farming). See Australian_megafauna for a review on causes of the extinction of Australian megafaunal species.

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