Fossil records indicate that this early lizard, Megalania (Megalania prisca or Varanus priscus), was a whopping seven metres in length. They were part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene. The youngest fossil remains date to around 50,000 years ago. The first aboriginal settlers of Australia might have encountered them and been a factor in their extinction. (Photo by Sky TV/The Guardian)

A mudlark uses a torch to look for items on the bank of the River Thames in London, Britain June 06, 2016. Mudlarking is believed to trace its origins to the 18th and 19th century, when scavengers searched the Thames' shores for items to sell. These days, history and archaeology fans are the ones hoping to find old relics such as coins, ceramics, artifacts or everyday items from across centuries. their finds with the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Any item over 300 years old must be recorded. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

In this September 1, 2014 photo released by the U.S. Geological Survey, fluid lava streams from the June 27 lava flow from the Kilauea volcano in Pahoa, Hawaii. The June 27 lava flow is named for the date it began erupting from a new vent. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issued a warning Thursday, September 4, 2014 to a rural community in the path of a lava flow on Hawaii's Big Island, as the molten rock moved to within a mile of homes. Observatory scientists said lava from the Kilauea volcano could reach the Kaohe Homesteads in five to seven days if it continues advancing through cracks in the earth. (Photo by AP Photo/U.S. Geological Survey)

People wearing face masks walk through Ginza area on December 27, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Japan announced it will close its borders to non-resident foreign nationals from tomorrow until the end of January after two people were discovered to be infected with a new strain of Covid-19 coronavirus that has begun spreading around the world. The country is also grappling with a surge in coronavirus infections, with Tokyo reporting 708 cases today. To date, Japan has recorded 218,453 infections, 3,052 deaths and 3,052 recoveries from the virus. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images)

Palestinians inspect a destroyed street after an Israeli strike in Gaza City, 13 May 2021. In response to days of violent confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem, various Palestinian militants factions in Gaza launched rocket attacks since 10 May that killed at least six Israelis to date. Gaza Strip's health ministry said that at least 65 Palestinians, including 13 children, were killed in the recent retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. Hamas confirmed the death of Bassem Issa, its Gaza City commander, during an airstrike. (Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA/EFE)

A boy sits on the back of a crocodile on May 19, 2018 at a pond in Bazoule in Burkina Faso, a village which happily shares its local pond with “sacred” crocodiles. Crocodiles may be one of the deadliest hunters in the animal kingdom, but in a small village in Burkina Faso it is not unusual to see someone sitting atop one of the fearsome reptiles. According to local legend, the startling relationship with the predators dates back to at least the 15 th century. The village was in the grip of an agonising drought until the crocodiles led women to a hidden pond where the population could slake their thirst. (Photo by Olympia de Maismont/AFP Photo)

Artists perform during a “Yandu Story” Show performance, in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China, 20 September 2022. The story dates back to some 100 years when – according to the organizers – two prominent local families, Gu and Ling, were committed to get out of a predicament, but parted due to different development concepts and ended in a turmoil. The large-scale immersive series of performances took more than a year of careful planning and consists of two parts: a daytime performance and a 90-minute night performance, they added. (Photo by Alex Plavevski/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A cat looks on near the Victory Pillar at the ruins of the Serapeum of Alexandria, an ancient Greek temple dating to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (246 BC – 391 AD) dedicated to the city's protector deity Serapis, in Egypt's northern coastal city of Alexandria on November 24, 2023. The giant Corinthian column, commonly misidentified as “Pompey's Pillar”, is a Roman triumphal column set up in honour of the Roman emperor Diocletian (298–302 AD), and originally supported a colossal porphyry statue of the emperor in armour. (Photo by Amir Makar/AFP Photo)