Asian water monitor

Varanus salvator · The Asian water monitor is a large lizard, the second-largest after the Komodo dragon, that lives across South and Southeast Asia.

Also called Common water monitor, Asian water monitor lizard, Malayan water monitor.

Asian water monitor
Photo: Tisha Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0
Asian water monitor
Photo: Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 4.0
Asian water monitor
Photo: Kingshuk Mondal, CC BY 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyVaranidae
GenusVaranus
SpeciesVaranus salvator

Where it lives

Wetlands and mangroves from eastern India and Sri Lanka to Indonesia.

Fun facts

  • When threatened by a king cobra, a water monitor may climb a tree, and it can even jump from the tree into a stream to escape.
  • The largest Asian water monitor on record, from Sri Lanka, measured 3.21 metres (10.5 feet) long.
  • A water monitor replaces its teeth every 59 days, with up to two spare teeth waiting behind each one.
  • In Java, water monitors have been seen going into caves at night to hunt bats that have fallen from the ceiling.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).