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Varanus albigularis is on average the most massive lizard in Africa, as adult males average about 6 to 8 kg (13 to 18 lb) and females weigh from 3.2 to 5 kg (7.1 to 11.0 lb). [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] Large mature males can attain weights of 15 to 17 kg (33 to 37 lb), which would make it slightly smaller than the Nile monitor by maximum size. [ 10 ]
Folk mythology across the region includes the idea that these lizards, though actually harmless, are venomous, and in Rajasthan, the locals believe that the lizards become venomous only during the rainy season. [32] Monitor lizards are hunted, and their body fat, extracted by boiling, is used in a wide range of folk remedies. [33]
Monitor lizards are poached in some South- and Southeast Asian countries, as their organs and fat are used in some traditional medicines, although there is no scientific evidence as to their effectiveness. [38] [39] Monitor lizard meat, particularly the tongue and liver, is eaten in parts of India and Malaysia and is supposed to be an aphrodisiac.
Eromanga, Queensland. A species of Varanus, lizards known as monitors and goannas, that is found in a variety of habitat.Due to the taxonomic uncertainty during the twentieth century the species form and behaviour has included taxa later recognised as distinct species, this includes V. rosenbergi, formerly treated as a subspecies and later elevated, and V. panoptes, described as a new species ...
During the middle of the day, the lizards mainly stay in their burrows and only come to the desert surface to search for food. The monitor lizards require approximately 3 to 4 full hibernation periods (years) to reach their full size (about 55–65 cm excluding their tails) and at least 3 hibernation periods before they become sexually mature.
The lizard preys on butterflies, moths, dragonflies, flies and other small insects. To catch its prey, Bronchocela jubata will generally wait in silence at the top of a tree, or it will rock slowly back and forth as if swaying in the breeze. It can also frequently be found utilising domestic electricity cables to cross from one place to another.
Monitor lizards are traded globally and are the most common type of lizard to be exported from Southeast Asia, with 8.1 million exported between 1998 and 2007 for the international leather market. [35] Today the majority of the harvesting of feral water monitors occurs in Southeast Asia, in Indonesia, and in peninsular Malaysia. [36]
The lace monitor (Varanus varius), also known as the tree goanna, is a member of the monitor lizard family native to eastern Australia. A large lizard, it can reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in total length and 14 kilograms (31 lb) in weight.