VietNamNet Bridge – Several people living along Rach Bang Canal in District 7, HCM City on July 30 caught a monitor lizard of up to 1.5 meters long, weighing over 15 kg.

The lizard.

That day, hearing dogs barking loudly on the canal bank, some people ran out from their home to see what was happening. They saw a big monitor lizard crawling from the canal to the bank.

Some men rushed to catch the monitor lizard and tied it up. One then called the Saigon Zoo to send staff to take the animal.

According to the zoo staff, it was a pregnant monitor lizard. They guessed that the animal escaped from a cage. It was caught crawling to the canal bank to seek a place to lay eggs.

The Saigon Zoo currently has three male monitor lizards.

Monitor lizard is the common name of several large lizard species, comprising the genus Varanus. They are native to Africa, Asia and Oceania, but are now found also in the Americas as an invasive species. A total of 78 species are recognized.

Monitor lizards have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. The adult length of extant species ranges from 20 cm in some species, to over 3 m in the case of the Komodo dragon, though the extinct varanid known as megalania (Varanus priscus) may have been capable of reaching lengths of more than7 m.

Most monitor species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known. While most monitor lizards are carnivorous, eating eggs, smaller reptiles, fish, birds and small mammals, some also eat fruit and vegetation, depending on where they live.

In Vietnam, a 1.5 m long lizard is considered very large and very rare.

Linh Nhat