Cooling Off

In a hot sunny day, there is nothing better than a cool water bath. This Malayan Water monitor lizard was doing exactly that in Sungei Buloh Wetland Nature Park, Singapore.

The Water Monitor’s main hunting technique is to run after prey that it has spotted, rather than stalking and ambushing. Like snakes, they have a forked tongue that they stick in and out regularly to “smell” their prey and other tasty titbits.

Water Monitor Lizards are highly mobile. They swim well (keeping their limbs to the side of the body, and propelling themselves through sinuous undulations of the flattened tail). They have even been seen swimming far out at sea. They can remain underwater for up to half an hour.