While the Komodo dragon is the largest living species of monitor lizard and the largest living lizard for that matter , it has a very restricted geographical range, and is found only on a handful of small islands in Indonesia. Any Komodo dragons in Singapore would be in captivity. Water monitor at Sungei Buloh That hasn't stopped many people from assuming that they have seen a Komodo dragon in the wild, when it is merely a large water monitor.
It does get a little upsetting to see how people often appear to be more knowledgeable about animals from other parts of the world, compared to the native wildlife that we have. This leads to plenty of misidentifications. Hence, sunbirds get identified as hummingbirds, herons and egrets are called cranes, the smooth otter turns into a sea otter, and the monitor lizard is transformed into a Komodo dragon.
I'm not sure whether it's just a lack of awareness or sheer ignorance, but it does get me quite annoyed whenever this happens. Monitor lizards in Singapore are also sometimes called 'iguanas' , which is entirely inaccurate; iguanas are an entirely different family of lizards, and are not native to this region. Once again, any iguana found in Singapore is of captive origin.
Water monitor on Sentosa A record of an escaped green iguana a large lizard native to South and Central America at Sungei Buloh can be found here. Just from the pictures alone, one can easily see that iguanas look nothing at all like monitor lizards. Another cause for consternation comes about from the apparent paranoia that many people seem to show towards these reptiles. Whether it stems from fear of reptiles or wildlife in general, or exaggeration of the threat to people due to misidentification as Komodo dragons, it appears that there are a number of people who believe that our local monitor lizards are extremely dangerous and have no right to live close to people.
And this is in Chinese Garden, where the species is commonly encountered and should be familiar to regular visitors. The second, is extrapolating unnecessarily from the initial misidentification as a Komodo dragon, and hence assuming that human safety is under great threat. The Komodo dragon is certainly large and powerful enough to look upon humans as suitable prey from time to time, and there have been 2 fatal attacks in recent years, involving an 8 year old boy in and a 32 year old fisherman in However, the Malayan water monitor simply is not adapted to take down such large animals, and so does not look upon humans as prey.
There certainly is a possible risk of monitor lizards preying upon pets such as rabbits, rodents, birds, and even cats and small dogs, but as far as I know, there have yet to be any unprovoked attacks on humans that can be interpreted as a predation attempt.
So far, in all my brushes with Malayan water monitors, even the largest ones have made no attempt to attack me, and most of the encounters ended with the lizard trying to get as far away as possible; this usually involved the lizard quickly dashing into the water and swimming off. Water monitor at Sungei Buloh Photo by Ria Not that the Malayan water monitor is a completely harmless creature though; it does have weapons that it will put to good use if it has to, and like any other wild animal, needs to be treated with an appropriate amount of respect.
Its first line of defence is its powerful tail. The same tail that propels the monitor lizard effortlessly through the water can be used as a whip. In this following video, you can see a monitor lizard possibly a Malayan water monitor using its tail when cornered by 2 dogs: Being a carnivore, a monitor lizard also possesses a set of sharp teeth, which are continually shed and replaced. As if that wasn't bad enough, recent studies have shown that some species of monitor lizard actually produce venom the familiar story about animals and people being bitten by Komodo dragons dying as a result of nasty bacterial infections is now disputed, and is argued to be due to the action of venom instead.
While the Malayan water monitor itself has not been examined in such studies, it is likely that it too possesses similar venom glands, which would aid in incapacitating prey. A person unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a water monitor's bite might be in for some nasty side-effects, besides the wounds and blood loss. Is this true? Are monitor lizards venomous?
Are they dangerous? Conservation In Singapore, it is illegal under the Wildlife Act to remove wild animals, including monitor lizards, from the wild. How can I help? If you witness any illegal trading or poaching: Collect information. Call AVS at Do not buy any monitor lizard products, such as meat and skin products. Raise awareness by sharing with your friends and family about the threats to monitor lizards, and what can they do to help.
What to do when I encounter a monitor lizard? Do not be alarmed. These animals are shy and will not attack humans unless provoked or cornered. As he went back to their lodging, he came across a wild Komodo dragon that was chewing on a goat but it ran away before he could whip out his camera. But while he was taking photos, a large lizard suddenly came up and bit him in the calf. Blood immediately started gushing from his leg.
There was no doctor, so they sent him to be patched up by the village's midwife. She washed the wound and sewed it up without anaesthesia. Mr Loh said he didn't think it was a big deal, and did not expect all this attention but many people came to the hospital to interview him and take his photo, he said.
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