We saw monitor lizards quite a few times over the last fortnight, and I personally find these animals really interesting.
Monitor lizards are in general a term to describe large lizards, though some might only be about 20cm long. There are over 70 sub-species, all over the world. The one that is common here is the Rock Monitor, and the photos we took is indeed a Rock Monitor. It is the second largest Monitor species in Africa and the heaviest-bodied, so they can get large. And I have seen some massive examples over the years! They sometimes reach weights of up to 17kg! That’s one big lezard. It is not rare for a mature Rock Monitor to exceed 1m in total length, making them look like dragons.
Funny fact: they are quite intelligent! In experiments it was showed that they can count up to 6 (not in English though 😉 )
So, here some photos of this grumpy-looking ancient creature. I would warn the one that is sunbathing at a lake, I have seen eagles snatch monitors, and then drop them from high up to kill them on impact (and then eat them of course). That said, an eagle has to be careful, they have a nasty bite I would imagine, and they fight back. And they are heavy!
