#1774 · 🦎 reptiles

Bengal Monitor

🇳🇱 Bengaalse Varaan ·Varanus bengalensis

NTnear threatened 🦎 Reptiles 📍 outside Europe

8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

The Bengal monitor ( Varanus bengalensis ) or common Indian monitor , is a monitor lizard found widely distributed over the Indian Subcontinent, as well as parts of Southeast Asia and West Asia. This large lizard is mainly terrestrial, and its length can range from about 61 to 175 cm from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail. Young monitors may be more arboreal, but adults mainly hunt on the ground, preying mainly on arthropods, but...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 5,318iNaturalist observations
length 51.5 cmadult, up to
threat NTnear threatened

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
5,318 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
About 52 cm long.
Scientifically named by François Marie Daudin in 1802 (224 years ago).