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Scientific classification
Monitor lizard (Biawak)Kingdom:AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: ReptiliaOrder: SquamataFamily: VaranidaeGenus: VaranusSpecies: V. Salvator (Bivittatus)Varanus salvator, commonly known as the water monitor or common water monitor, is a large lizard native to South and Southeast Asia. Water monitors are one of the most common monitor lizards found throughout Asia. They range from Sri Lanka and coastal northeast India to Indochina, the Malay Peninsula, and various islands of Indonesia, living in areas close to water. The Asian water monitor was described by Laurenti in 1768 and is among the largest squamate lizards in the world.
The species is known as Malayan water monitor, Asian water monitor (or kabaragoya, denoting a Sri Lankan subspecies with distinct morphological features), common water monitor, two-banded monitor, and as rice lizard, ring lizard, plain lizard and no-mark lizard, as well as simply "water monitor"
Water monitors defend themselves using their tails, claws, and jaws. They are excellent swimmers, using the raised fin on their tails to steer through water. They are carnivores, and consume a wide range of prey. They are known to eat fish, frogs, rodents, birds, crabs, and snakes. They have also been known to eat turtles, as well as young crocodiles and crocodile eggs.Water monitors have been observed eating catfish in a fashion similar to a mammalian carnivore, tearing off chunks of meat with their sharp teeth while holding it with their front legs and then separating different parts of the fish for sequential consumption.In dominantly aquatic habitats their semi-aquatic behavior is considered to provide a measure of safety from predators. This paired with their generalist diet is thought to contribute to their ecological plasticity. When hunted by predators such as the King cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah) they will climb up trees using their powerful legs and claws. If this strategic evasion is not enough to avoid danger, they have also been known to jump from trees into streams for safety- a similar behavior to that of the Green iguana (Iguana iguana).Like the Komodo dragon, the water monitor will often eat carrion. They have a keen sense of smell and can smell a carcass from far away. They are known to feed on dead human bodies. While on the one hand their presence can be helpful in locating a missing person in forensic investigations, on the other hand they can inflict further injuries to the corpse, complicating ascertainment of the cause of death.The first description of the water monitor and its behavior in English literature was made in 1681 by Robert Knox, who had had carefully observed the lizard during his long confinement in the Kingdom of Kandy: “There is a Creature here called Kobberaguion, resembling an Alligator. The biggest may be five or six feet long, speckled black and white. He lives most upon the Land, but will take the water and dive under it: hath a long blue forked tongue like a sting, which he puts forth and hisseth and gapeth, but doth not bite nor sting, tho the appearance of him would scare those that knew not what he was. He is not afraid of people, but will lie gaping and hissing at them in the way, and will scarce stir out of it. He will come and eat Carrion with the Dogs and Jackals, and will not be scared away by them, but if they come near to bark or snap at him, with his tail, which is long like a whip, he will so slash them, that they will run away and howl.
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