Details
Varanus salvator
The Asian water monitor is a large monitor lizard of South and Southeast Asian waterways. It swims well and may even live along urban canals.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It inhabits Indomalayan freshwater, coasts, forests, and urban edges. Rivers, wetlands, mangroves, ponds, and canals are common habitats.
Total length 100-300 cm; weight 8-25 kg. The long tail is laterally flattened for swimming. A dark body with pale spots or bands and strong limbs gives it a powerful build.
Diurnal and solitary, it swims, basks, and patrols shorelines. When threatened it often escapes into water.
A carnivore, it eats fish, crabs, birds, eggs, small mammals, and carrion. A forked tongue and keen smell help locate food.
Females lay eggs in soil, rotting vegetation, or termite mounds. Young use trees and waterside cover as they grow.
It is listed as Least Concern. It adapts to human landscapes, though capture, skin trade, and urban conflict occur locally.
