Monitor Lizards

This group gathers Reptiles subcategory members belonging to the family Varanidae, the monitor lizards, a family of active, intelligent, largely carnivorous lizards native to Africa, Asia and Australia and named for an old belief that some species warn of nearby crocodiles. It spans the Komodo dragon, the largest living lizard species in the world, capable of taking down prey as large as water buffalo, the Nile monitor and savannah monitor of Africa, both large, adaptable generalists, the Asian water monitor, one of the most widespread monitor species across South and Southeast Asia, and the crocodile monitor of New Guinea, notable for one of the longest tails relative to body length of any lizard. Monitor lizards share an elongated neck, powerful limbs and claws, a forked tongue used for chemical sensing much like a snake's, and, uniquely among lizards, several species confirmed to be venomous, a discovery that overturned the older assumption that their dangerous bite came from bacteria alone.