Asian Water Monitor

Varanus salvator

Description

Varanus salvator has a tapered head shape. The skin is rough and slightly raised. Black or indigo body color with spotted spots and pale yellow dots from the top of the head, back, to the base of the tail. The abdomen and neck are paler with dark patches. The tail is the same base color as the body and is decorated with faint brindles of pale yellow blending with the base color. For young monitor lizards, it is usually a dark brown base with pale blotches like its parent.

Population Size

Unknown

Life Span

-

WEIGHT​

19 kg

LENGTH

Average total length 1.8 meters

Ca

Carnivore

Di

Diurnal

So

Solitary

Te

Terrestrial

Classification

KINGDOM

:

Animalia

PHYLUM

:

Chordata

CLASS

:

Reptilia

ORDER

:

Squamata

FAMILY

:

Varanidae

GENUS

:

Varanus

SPECIES

:

Varanus salvator

Distribution

Varanus salvator lives in a wide variety of habitats including cities and lowland montane forests and reaches an altitude of 1200 m above sea level. In Bali this species lives in lowland rainforest, monsoon forest, savanna, mangrove forest and agricultural land up to about 100 m above sea level.

Geography

Continent : Asia

Country : Varanus salvator is widespread from northeast India, Bangladesh, Andaman Islands, Nicobars, China (Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan), Hong Kong, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia (including Sarawak and Sabah), and Indonesia. (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi).

Habits and Lifestyle

Varanus salvator is one of the largest monitor lizards in the world, this species is active during the day, while at night it takes refuge in burrows or sleeps in the branches of trees that depend on the water and is a solitary animal.

Lifestyle

Terrestrial and solitary

Biome

Tropical rain forest

Climate Zone

Tropical

Diet and Nutrition

Varanus salvator is a carnivorous animal, its diet consists of various types of invertebrates, vertebrates, eggs, carcass meat and food scraps.

Diet : Carnivora

Mating Habits

During the mating season, male individuals fight by standing with their hind legs to push against each other and wrestle with their front legs to win over individual females. This species reproduces by laying eggs or oviparous. The female lays 15-30 eggs which are clay-skinned in their burrows or in a termite mound.

Reproduction session : –

Incubation periods: –

Independent age : at birth

Baby name : –

Baby carrying : 15 – 30 eggs

Population

Population status : Least Concern (LC)

NE

DD

LC

NT

VU

EN

CR

EW

EX

Population threats​

Varanus salvator 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. Varanus salvator is one of the most exploited varanids; its skin is used for fashion accessories such as shoes, belts and handbags which are shipped globally, with as many as 1.5 million skins traded annually. Other uses include a perceived remedy for skin ailments and eczema, novelty food in Indonesia, and a perceived aphrodisiac, and as pets.

Population number​

Varanus salvator has been assessed as Least Concern. This species has a wide distribution, can be found in various habitats, and adapts to habitats disturbed by humans. It is also abundant in parts of its range, despite large levels of harvesting. However, significant taxonomic uncertainty still surrounds this species. While morphological analyses have already started to unravel this taxonomic uncertainty, molecular studies are needed to corroborate this evidence. This is of utmost importance since any future taxonomic changes will also warrant a review of the conservation status of this species.

PHOTO GALLERY

Reference

  1. Bennett, D., Gaulke, M., Pianka, E.R., Somaweera, R. & Sweet, S.S. . 2010. Varanus salvator. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T178214A7499172
  2. Varanus salvator on The IUCN Red List 
  3. Varanus salvator Wikipedia article 
  4. Varanus salvator Wikipedia article 
  5. Somaweera, R. 2017. A Naturalist’s Guide To The Reptiles and Amphibians of Bali. John Beaufoy Publishing, Oxford, England.
  6. McKay, J.L. 2006. Reptil and Amphibi di Bali. Krieger Publishing Company, Florida, USA.