Water Monitor( Varanus salvator)
Habitat: reside in places near mountain streams of the tropical and sub-tropical areas and can adapt to all kinds of environment.
Feeding
 habits:
its food can change based on its habitat. It can catch fish in water and can also climb on trees to seek for food; besides, it also eats frogs, snakes, birds, eggs of all kinds of birds, mice and insects etc.
Features: it's a kind of lizard with the largest size. Adult water monitor can have a body length of 2.5 m; its head is like that of a snake. Its purple-colored tongue is forked, thin and long, which stretches out and draws back all the time. Its tongue is similar with that of a snake and is a sensitive touching organ. Its neck is thick and its head can move freely. It likes fighting and it uses its flat tail as its weapon. It's of oviparity. It produces eggs in caves near the riverbanks or caves of trees close to water. It can produce 15-30 eggs each time. Under wild condition, its hatching period can be as long as a year. Because of wonton hunting, the wild resource of water monitors has suffered great losses. This resource is reducing sharply and protection is needed for them.
Category: Reptilia, Squamata, Lacertiformes, Varanidae
Distribution: South Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan; in foreign countries such as India, Malaysia and Burma etc.
Protection level: it is listed as class I state protection animal.
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