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TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Varanidae
Genus/species: Varanus salvator (melanistic color form)
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Color is usually dark brown or blackish. The neck is long with an elongated snout and the nostrils close to the end of the nose. The tail is laterally compressed and has a dorsal keel. Scales on the top of the head are relatively large, while those on the back are smaller in size and are keeled. Length to 2 meters (6.6 ft), but most adults are 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) long. Average weight is 19.5 kg (43 lb). As of 2014 the Academy Water Monitor is aprox. 7 years old and 4 feet long (California Academy of Sciences, Eric Hupperts, Biologist)
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Found throughout much of southern Asia, from India in the west to the Philippines and the Indo-Australian islands in the east. They are semi-aquatic and has a wide range of habitats. Also found on flat land, a typical burrow is in a river bank. The entrance starts on a downward slope but then increases forming a shallow pool of water.
DIET IN THE WILD: The lizard is very fast and is an 'open pursuit' hunter, rather than stalking and ambushing. V. salvator is an extreme carnivore: birds, eggs, mammals, fishes, other reptiles and carrion.
Academy diet: Rodents.
REPRODUCTION: Males are normally larger than the females, usually twice as large in mass.. Eggs are usually deposited along rotting logs or stumps.
LIFESPAN: 10.6 years in captivity.
CONSERVATION: IUCN Redlist: Least Concern. CITES: appendix II. It is abundant in parts of its range, despite large levels of harvesting.
REMARKS:They are excellent swimmers known to cross large stretches of water, explaining its wide distribution. Known to dig up corpses of human and devour them.
Skins of Varanus salvator are used for dietary protein, ceremonies, medicine, and leather goods. Annual trade in these skins may reach more than 1 million whole skins a year, mostly in Indonesia for the leather trade. Medium-sized individual are preferred because the skin of large animals is too tough and thick to shape.
Borneo Cave Cluster BO02
References
Encyclopedia of Life eol.org/pages/1055072/details
Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Varanus_salvator/
Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Varanus_salvator/
Ron's Wordpress Shortlink wp.me/p1DZ4b-TY
Ron's flickr www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/sets/72157625194985646/...
3-27-13, 11-30-14, *Not currently on exhibit
Bilder-Atlas zur wissenschaftlich-populären Naturgeschichte der Wirbelthiere / von Leopold Joseph Fitzinger.
Wien : K.K. Hof-und Staatsdruckerei, 1867.
Also called the Hopi rattlesnake, the northern pacific rattlesnake is the most widely distributed venomous reptile in California. One of the nine subspecies of the western rattlesnake, the northern pacific is green, yellowish, grey, brown, or black in coloration with contrasting blotches. A light stripe extends from behind the eye to the corner of the mouth.
They are usually 15-65" in length.
Not sure what kind of lizard this is, as I've never seen one with such pretty colors speckled on its back.
Bilder-Atlas zur wissenschaftlich-populären Naturgeschichte der Wirbelthiere / von Leopold Joseph Fitzinger.
Wien : K.K. Hof-und Staatsdruckerei, 1867.