Giant Monitor Lizard

[Shyamala Kumar]

This was a large one by any standards.My first thought was is that a Komodo?It was at least 5ft--6ft in length and was basking in the newly emerged sunshine on a cold October morning in Bhadra last year.Nikon7100+150-600 F/8 ISO800 1/250s

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice sighting of this huge monitor lizard. Liked the way the nails can be seen holding the trunk on the left. Shows why in the olden days Maratha army used monitor lizards to help them to climb forts . Could you get any images in the open? Thanks for sharing.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Massive build, Varanus bengalensis. Nice live image. In W. Bengal, we find three species: Water (V.salvator), Common Indian (V. bengalensis) and Yellow (V.flavescens) Monitor Lizards. Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice to see this huge one.
TFS
Roopak

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Some images contain so much ingredients that they keep our mind engaged. In case a King Cobra finds this giant Monitor Lizard on the forest road when the King is in search of prey, what will happen. King being very intelligent snake, it may not like to engage with such a giant. But this Lizard may not allow it to escape easily and if an encounter really takes place, possibility of win by the Lizard ( because of the size the King may not be able to swallow it) is more.

In Corbett, a few years back a King Cobra did attack a Monitor Lizard after pre-monsoon showers when it normally comes out (In Manas I was called back in April 1979 after showers) but could not kill it by injecting venom; may be because of thick hide of Lizard or as its blood is partially/fully immune to neuro-toxic venom; but the King ultimately swallowed the Lizard catching the head first. I think, the Monitor might not be as big as this.

My information is limited to a Mongoose killing King Cobra and a Fishing Cat killing a Water Monitor Lizard in Sundarbans. I have seen all of them on different visits but have not seen the encounters or the kills (circumstantial or as heard from foresters).

Wild thinking.

SaktiWild

[Shyamala Kumar]

I doubt very much that this particular monitor could have been swallowed by any of our Indian snakes. Maybe an extremely large indian rock python could have done so.All open to conjecture.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

It is nice to see this big specimen. The leaf of the broken branch is just touching its skin. I guess it is ready to get under the fallen tree trunk when disturbed.

The monitor lizards bite each other and their body has evolved to handle the toxicity. It is different than snakes. A king cobra injects venom even to other king cobras and swallows it. Saktipada ji throws so many questions about probable scenarios and most of those situations get automatically added to the list of natural history moments that I want to experience in this lifetime. In Sundarbans we have seen King cobra swimming and also monitor lizard swimming. May be soon we will be blessed with a sighting of King Cobra chasing a monitor in water. My imagination is running wild.