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Thanks to Cosmo and Zachary for suggesting this week's monitor lizards!\n\nFurther reading:\n\nNo One Imagined Giant Lizard Nests Would Be This Weird\n\nThe Mighty Modifications of the Yellow-Spotted Goanna\n\nThe Asian water monitor:\n\n\n\nA yellow-spotted goanna standing up [picture by Geowombats - https://www.flickr.com/photos/geowombats/136601260/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2595566]:\n\n\n\nShow transcript:\n\nWelcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I\u2019m your host, Kate Shaw.\n\nLast week we had our big dragons episode where we learned about the Komodo dragon and some of its relations, including goannas. I forgot to thank Cosmo for suggesting the lace monitor, also called the tree goanna, in that episode, and I also forgot that Zachary had also suggested monitor lizards as a topic, so let\u2019s learn about two more monitor lizards this week.\n\nCosmo is particularly interested in aquatic and semi-aquatic animals, and a lot of monitor lizards are semi-aquatic. Let\u2019s learn about the Asian water monitor first, since it\u2019s the second-largest lizard alive today, only smaller than the Komodo dragon.\n\nThe Asian water monitor is common in many parts of South and Southeast Asia, including India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, southern China, and many islands. A half dozen subspecies are currently recognized, although there may be more.\n\nThe largest water monitor ever reliably measured was 10 1/2 feet long, or 3.2 meters. It\u2019s dark brown or black with yellow speckles and streaks, and young lizards have larger yellow spots and stripes. It lives wherever it can find fresh or brackish water, from lakes and rivers to swamps, ponds, and even sewers.\n\nLike the crocodile, the Asian water monitor\u2019s tail is flattened from side to side, called lateral compression, and it\u2019s also very strong. It swims by tucking its legs against its sides and propelling itself through the water with its tail. It can dive deeply to find food, and while it prefers fresh water, it will swim in the ocean too. That\u2019s why it\u2019s found on so many islands.\n\nJuvenile Asian water monitors spend most of the time in trees, but even a fully grown lizard will sometimes climb a tree to escape danger. Only saltwater crocodiles and humans kill the adults.\n\nIn some parts of its range, the water monitor is killed by humans for its meat and its skin, which is used as leather. In other parts of its range, it\u2019s never bothered since it eats venomous snakes and animals that damage crops. It\u2019s sometimes kept as a pet, although it can grow so big that many people who buy a baby water monitor eventually run out of room to keep it. That\u2019s how so many have ended up in the waterways of Florida and other areas far outside of its natural range, from people letting pets go in the wild even though doing so is illegal and immoral.\n\nWhile most of the time the water monitor isn\u2019t dangerous to humans, if it feels threatened, it can be quite dangerous. Like the Komodo dragon and other monitor lizards, it\u2019s venomous, plus its teeth are serrated, its jaws are strong, and it has sharp claws. It eats a lot of carrion, along with anything it can catch. A population in Java even enters caves to hunt bats that fall from the ceiling.\n\nZachary didn\u2019t suggest a particular type of monitor lizard, so let\u2019s learn about the yellow-spotted goanna. Goannas are a type of monitor lizard found in Australia, New Guinea, and some nearby areas. We talked about some of them last week, including Cosmos\u2019s suggestion of the lace monitor, but after the episode was released I found an article I had saved over a year ago. It\u2019s about the yellow-spotted goanna, and a remarkable discovery about how it takes care of its eggs.\n\nThe yellow-spotted goanna lives in parts of Australia and southern New Guinea, and a big male can grow up to five feet long, or 1.5 meters. It can swim and climb trees when it wants to, but mainly it stays on the ground, although it prefers to live near water if possible.