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Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus Varanus, the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and one species is also found in the Americas as an invasive species. [1] About 80 species are recognized. Monitor lizards have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well
Mariana monitors in the Southern Mariana Islands shifted major prey classes when their regular prey began declining. [5] The monitors were known for being the top predator on Guam, [6] but the introduction of the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) led to a decrease in prey numbers, prompting the monitors to switch to eating invertebrates and foraging through human garbage.
The rock monitor, being large and able to swallow large prey, often seek chances to eat turtles, which contributes most of its vertebrate food. [4] African monitors thrive throughout the African continent. Nile monitors are the most populous lizards in Africa, with over 4 million widely distributed across Sub-Sahara in all habitats but deserts ...
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.
"There are few lizards less suited to life in captivity than the Nile monitor. Buffrenil (1992) considered that, when fighting for its life, a Nile monitor was a more dangerous adversary than a crocodile of a similar size. Their care presents particular problems on account of the lizards' enormous size and lively dispositions.
Monitor lizards are hunted, and their body fat, extracted by boiling, is used in a wide range of folk remedies. [33] Comparison to water monitor (Varanus salvator) In Sri Lanka, the Asian water monitor is considered venomous and dangerous when confronted, while the Bengal monitor (Thalagoya) is considered harmless and rather defenseless.
Two monitor lizards were seen wrestling over scraps of food after snacks left behind from tourists have disappeared because of the coronavirus lockdown. The reptiles were grappling outside a ...
The forest monitor lizard can grow to more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length, and weigh up to 15 kg (33 lb), or possibly more. [4] Its scaly body and legs are a blue-black mottled with pale yellow-green dots, while its tail is marked in alternating segments of black and green. [ 5 ]