Common asiatic monitor
The Common Asiatic monitor, also known as the Asian water monitor, is a large lizard species found primarily in Southeast Asia, the Indo-Pacific, and northern Australia. Characterized by their dull gray or olive coloration with yellow markings, these monitors can grow up to approximately 6.5 feet (2 meters) in length. They possess thick, muscular legs and a unique ability to stand upright on their hind limbs. As opportunistic carnivores, their diet is diverse, including giant land snails, insects, birds, eggs, and even small mammals like shrews and squirrels.
These lizards are notable for their remarkable sensory adaptations, utilizing their tongues to detect chemicals in their environment and having a special "third eye" spot on their heads that helps them sense time and seasonal changes. Common Asiatic monitors are often seen scavenging around human settlements and plantations, showcasing a level of adaptability to anthropogenic environments. They reproduce by laying between 7 and 35 soft-shelled eggs, with no further maternal care provided after laying. With a lifespan of around 20 years, these monitors have intrigued both researchers and local communities, though they face threats from hunting for their meat and skin.
Subject Terms
Common asiatic monitor
Common Asiatic monitors are also known as Asian water monitors because they live in Asia and spend part of their time on land and part of their time in water.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Varanidae
Genus: Varanus
Species: Salvator
Common Asiatic monitors are dull gray or olive with yellow markings. They are large, thick lizards. They have thick, muscular legs with splayed, or separated, toes. Although they usually walk on all four limbs, they are also able to stand upright on their hind limbs. Common Asiatic monitors grow to be about 6 1/2 feet (2 meters) long. Like other lizards, common Asiatic monitors slough, or shed their skin, many times throughout their lives. They also are like other lizards in many of their sensory abilities. Like other lizards, common Asiatic monitors sense their environments with their tongues. They dart their tongues out of their mouths to pick up tiny chemicals. They then process these chemicals and learn what prey and predators are present in their surroundings. Common Asiatic monitors also learn about their environments through the use of their "third eyes." Every common Asiatic monitor has a spot on its head with a thin tissue covering it. These spots are directly connected to the lizards' brains. They are responsible for relaying information about the time of day and cycle of the year to the lizards.
Common Asiatic monitors spend much of their time scavenging for food around villages and plantations in southeast Asia, the Indo-Pacific, and northern Australia. They are sometimes called Asian water monitors because they are found both on land and in water.
Common Asiatic monitors are carnivores, which means they eat only meat. Their diet may include a variety of giant land snails, grasshoppers, beetles, whip scorpions, crocodiles, birds and their eggs, turtle eggs, crabs, fish, other lizards, nestling birds, shrews, and squirrels. Common Asiatic monitors are hunted by humans for their flesh and their skin.
Mating season for common Asiatic monitors is unknown. The females lay between 7 and 35 soft-shelled eggs. After they have laid their eggs the females have no further contact with their young. The time between the laying and hatching of the eggs is known as the incubation period.
The life span of common Asiatic monitors is about 20 years.