A perentie basks in the sun. Want a closer look? Check out More Perentie Photos. Enhance your experience: Watch Perenties in Action! To learn more about the zoo, check out The Australia Zoo in Depth. Ready for more? Head back to the Australia Zoo Map.

The perentie is the largest lizard on the Australian continent and, with a maximum length in excess of 8 feet, one of the largest lizards in the world!

There are three perenties at the Australia Zoo: Ledge, Crinkle and Two Spots. Ledge, the male, is about 10, while Crinkle and Two Spots, females, are 8 and 5 years old respectively.

Ledge, Crinkle and Two Spots love to bask on their rocks during the heat of the day and, for the most part, are very quiet lizards. That is, until feeding time, when they chow down heartily on mice, rats and chopped-up rabbits.

Although enormous in size for a lizard, the perentie is exceedingly wary and shy by nature. If a potential predator happens by, the perentie will remain motionless, relying on its patterned skin to keep it camouflaged. If pressed, it will usually scamper up a tree or seek shelter in a fallen log or burrow.

Perenties are mainly found in arid semidesert and desert regions of central and western Australia, particularly in areas with rocky outcrops. They also live in grasslands, shrub and wooded areas.

They are generally active during the warm season, holing up in burrows from May to August to escape the cold. With their muscular limbs and long, sharp claws, perenties are excellent burrowers.

Perenties generally hunt coldblooded prey, such as snakes and lizards, even venomous ones! They also eat small mammals, insects and birds — basically any animal that can be overpowered. Reptile and bird eggs, as well as carrion, make up the rest of their diet.

Able to run quickly for short distances, perenties catch most of their prey in open pursuit. Once an animal is brought down, the giant lizard shakes it to death before swallowing it whole.