Dave Taylor's African Safari: Trophic Level III: Omnivores and Small Carnivores - Savanna Monitor Lizard

Trophic Level III: Omnivores and Small Carnivores
Savanna Monitor Lizard
Page 5

Varanus exabthematicus

Length: 70 - 110 cm (27 - 43 inches)

Status: Common.

Habitat: Unlike the Nile monitor, the bulkier savanna monitor prefers grasslands, open woodlands, rocky areas and semi-deserts rather than water courses. Even so, it is usually found near water.

It is not brilliantly patterned and blends in well with its surroundings.

Food: (See general comments under Food, Nile Monitor Lizard) Living on the plains, the savanna monitor’s diet is different from its close relative’s. It eats baby tortoises, bird nests, land snails, millipedes, beetles and grasshoppers. It will scavenge.

Social System/ Behavior: The female lays between 8 and 36 eggs. During the rainy season, she digs a burrow in soft earth in which to lay eggs. She may use a termite mound as a nest site but is less likely to do so than the female Nile monitor lizard.

Predators: Snakes, birds of prey, herons and small carnivores such as jackals will all prey on small savanna lizards.

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