REPTILIA: SQUAMATA: VARANIDAE: Varanus

Varanus griseus (Daudin, 1802)

Desert monitor / Gray monitor

Photos & text by Dr. Robert Sprackland, with data supplied by Dr. Roland Vernet.

Under construction

Range: North Africa from Morocco east to Pakistan.

Diagnosis: A medium-sized varanid with a round tail, short digits, and a large oval nostril near the front edge of the eye.

Description:

Natural History: A resident of extremely hot sandy deserts, gray monitors excavate or take over long, deep tunnels that provide escape from midday temperatures that may exceed 42º C. Given the scarcity of food in their habitats, gray monitors are catholic in their tastes, taking snakes (including venomous species), scorpions, rodents, birds, eggs, and other lizards.

Reproduction: Egg layer.

Taxonomy & Relationships:

Variation:

Additional Comments:

Type Specimen:

 Literature: Click on a book to order a copy

Bennett, Daniel. 1998. Monitor lizards: Natural history, biology & husbandry. Edition Chimaira. ISBN: 3-930612-10-0.

Eidenmüller, Bernd. 1997. Warane: Lebensweise, Pflege, Zucht. Herpeton, Offenbach. In German. ISBN: 3-9802892-7-3. 

King, Dennis and Brian Green. 1999. Monitors: the biology of varanid lizards. 2nd edition. Krieger Publishing. ISBN: 1-57524-112-9.