The Monitors

Our friend near Wuppertal whom we visited last week is one of the world's experts on monitor lizards.  Most of the cages  are now empty and there are only a few monitors left here.  However, the research done on HG's monitors  has led to about 70 articles in scientific journals.  And he's been invited to lecture in California, Israel, Florida, and Scandinavia on monitors.

Two people from the nearby university measured the strength of monitor footprints and also took physical measurements on how they walk.  In addition, HG,  determined the conditions necessary, for the first time outside of Australia,  and had lace monitor reproduce in captivity

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Iguanas are not monitors.  They eat leaves and monitors nearly always are carnivorous, though there are three monitor lizards in the Philippines that eat leaves.  (The last of the three was published two weeks ago.) And their distribution area is different.

Down here many observations of monitors were carefully made including the conditions of reproductions.  First, on what kind of diet they will survive.  How many trace elements do they need?  What kind of vitamins do they need?  What sort of climate?  Humidity and temperature.  This is a difficult condition.  Each cage could have different conditions - one the climate of a rain forest, in another the climate of a desert. 

Clean windows are something that zoo goers want to have.  And at first here they worked hard to keep the windows clean.  But they discovered one day that the clean windows made the monitors nervous and determined that the dirt on the windows helped the monitors to know where the border was.  Most of these photos are through the glass, but the last ones the glass was opened and I could get much cleaner pictures. 

Varanus Gouldii from Australia (I think.  My notes have hidden themselves somewhere.)

Varanus cumingii from the Philippines.  This one is almost 2 meters long.

Here's a page of another paper based on monitors here.