Common Water Monitor

Asian water monitors are large, powerfully built lizards distributed widely across South and Southeast Asia. They are strongly associated with water and occupy rivers, swamps, mangroves, wet forests, canals and developed landscapes. A long muscular tail provides propulsion when swimming, while strong limbs and claws assist climbing and digging. Their dark bodies typically carry rows of pale spots or bands, although pattern and coloration vary geographically. (Animal Diversity Web)

These monitors are opportunistic carnivores and scavengers that consume fish, frogs, snakes, turtles, birds, mammals, insects, crabs, eggs and carrion. They forage on land and in water, using a forked tongue to investigate chemical trails. Females deposit eggs in burrows, termite mounds, rotting logs or other protected places. Hatchlings are independent and more arboreal than heavy adults, using trees as refuges from predators. (Animal Diversity Web)