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| photo © peter stoeckl |
Varanus bengalensis (Daudin, 1802),
Common Indian Monitor, Bengal Monitor,
a really sizable lizard found throughout southern India. Fully grown, it measures up to 75 cm in body length plus a tail of about 100 cm in length. It feeds on small terrestrial vertebrates, birds and their eggs, fish, and insects.
Monitor lizards are killed for their meat and skin, and therefore their existence is threatened in many places by excessive hunting.
In spite of their impressive size and weight, monitor lizards may be seen climbing vertical rocks with ease by the help of strong claws. Their ability to cling strongly to surfaces seems to be legendary. There is a popular old story in Maharashtra that a general named general Tanaji Malusare used a monitor lizard with ropes attached for climbing the walls of a fort in the Battle of Sinhagad.
Varanus bengalensis is called "ghorpad" in Maharashtra.
Seen on the rocks at the caves of Elephanta Island , on November 1, 2006