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.
. 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.
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.
