Varanus bengalensis,

IUCN

Alias：Varanus bengalensis,Bengal Monitor Lizard,Common Indian monitor lizard, Bengal monitor lizard

Basic Information

Scientific classification

name：Varanus bengalensis,
Aliases：Varanus bengalensis,Bengal Monitor Lizard,Common Indian monitor lizard, Bengal monitor lizard
Outline：Squamata
Family：Varanidae Varanus

Vital signs

length：90cm
Weight：About 10kg
lifetime：About 10-20 years

Feature

It has strong survival ability and mainly lives on the ground, but can also climb trees.

Details

Bengal Monitor Lizard, also known as Bengal Monitor Lizard, has 3 subspecies.

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Bengal Monitor Lizard mainly lives on the ground and also climbs trees. Males are more active than females (males: 4.5 hours/day, females: 2.85 hours/day). The male has an activity range of 53,000m2 and the female has an activity range of 44,000m2. It feeds on arthropods such as insects, spiders, frogs, lizards, snakes, bats, fish, snails and small invertebrates, and will lick ants.

To breed Bengal monitor juveniles: beef (raw or cooked) stomach slices, fish and cooked lungs. Juveniles need to be fed twice a week in the later stages. To breed adults: chickens over 20 days old, four or five fish, 20 mice, or two rats. After eating, they will return to the resting area for three to four days to digest the food, and then defecate, usually in a pool. A larger breeding space and a larger water environment are required for breeding. Appropriate climbing branches and upright containers must be provided to help with egg laying. A heating pad can be used to heat the sand. It is best to breed them alone. The daytime temperature is 22℃~35℃, and the night temperature can drop to 20℃. The humidity is 77% during the day and 85% at night.

Bengal monitors reach sexual maturity at 2.5 to 3 years. The body size and overall length are closely related to the influence of the environment. In general, longer individuals generally grow in areas with more soil moisture, such as swampy environments. Shorter individuals often occur around forests. In addition, smaller individuals than nearby continents are found on small islands in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, with a body length of less than 23.3 cm when reaching reproductive maturity.

Bengal monitors are oviparous. Larger females can lay 15 eggs at a time underground or in termite mounds. The incubation period ranges from 70 to 327 days. The length of time depends largely on the average incubation temperature. In captivity, females show the greatest chance of successful mating, with only one or two individual males available for mating in each female's annual reproductive cycle for many years. Ovulation begins in June but ends in July. The most successful mating occurs just before or just after ovulation has peaked. Eggs are laid two weeks after mating, usually in July, August, early September, or the last week of October.

Bengal monitors produce only one litter per year. However, in some areas that experience two monsoon seasons, a second litter may be produced each year. If two litters are produced, there is a 23 to 30 day interval between the first egg laying and the second litter.

The average number of eggs laid per year is 20, of which about 80% usually hatch. This results in about 16 lizards being born each year, with a relatively high rate of predation on newborns. Due to predation, about half of the offspring live before the age of two.

The main threats to the Bengal monitor are habitat destruction, and indirect effects are pesticide pollution in agricultural areas where the species lives and the reduction of available food resources. However, perhaps the biggest threat is that the species is hunted by humans, who hunt it for its skin and often eat its meat. The fat of the species is also used in traditional medicine.

Listed in the CITES I level protected animals of the Washington Convention.

Listed in the 2012 Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) ver 3.1 - Low Concern (LC).

Listed in the "National List of Terrestrial Wildlife with Important Economic and Scientific Research Value" issued by the State Forestry Administration of China on August 1, 2000.

Listed in the "National List of Key Protected Wildlife in China" at the first level.

Protect wildlife and eliminate game.

Maintaining ecological balance is everyone's responsibility!

Location

Distributed in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia (Java, Sumatra), Islamic Republic of Iran, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Bengal monitor is highly resilient and can cope with a wide range of habitats, from deserts to tropical rainforests, with seasonal snowy winters. However, it is generally found in areas with persistently warm climates, with an average annual temperature of about 24°C in most of the south, and in surrounding seas and mountains with seasonal monsoon patterns. Some habitats are relatively arid, with an average annual precipitation of less than 200 mm. Other habitats are quite humid, with annual precipitation of up to 2,200 mm. The most common habitats for the Bengal monitor are deciduous, semi-deciduous, and evergreen tropical rainforests.
The western subspecies inhabits drier areas, while the eastern subspecies inhabits wetter environments, and is mainly ac

Form

The Bengal monitor has yellow spots on its body, a triangular head, and is more than 90 cm long, with the tail alone being 50 cm long. It has reached 10.2 kg. In the wild, males are generally 42% more overweight than females. The nostrils are slit-shaped and located in the center between the eyes and the snout. The western and eastern subspecies can be distinguished based on body color and scale shape. Adult Bengal monitors are generally gray or gray-green, with gray-black markings from the chin to the belly and tail. These markings are usually darker in the western region and lighter in the eastern region. These ventral markings usually become darker in color as the skin age increases. In the wild, the heaviest male Bengal monitor recorded weighed 7.18 kg.