The population of monitor lizards, the wondrous reptiles commonly seen in Lumpini Park, is predicted to rise in Bangkok since no one is hunting of them, according to Dr. Alongkorn Mahannop, a senior veterinarian at the Office Of the Royal Society.
In an Interview with Matichon, Dr. Alongkorn gave his two cents on why we see more and more monitor lizards in the urban area. Although no one is doing a population survey on the scaly reptiles, he points out that the population is growing due to the fact that the capital is abundant with food waste and the lizards aren’t hunted.
He said the logic is that one lizard lays 20-30 eggs per year, and statistically out of those, five lizards are born. Once born safely, the reptiles can live up to 20 years.
“This means the ratio of lizard death is very low compared to the birth, since most lizards die from old age, and their life span is about 15-20 years,” he said.
In September 2016, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) estimated that there were about 400 monitor lizards in Lumpini Park alone. Therefore, they had to catch nearly 90 lizards from the park to decrease the population after park-goers reported that the lizards caused accidents by cutting in front of bicycles.
However, Dr. Alongkorn believes that the number of monitor lizards at the park has gone back to 400 at this point, since the animals reproduce fast.
In Thai culture, monitor lizards are looked down upon, since they’re known for killing people’s livestock. Therefore, the animals have the nickname of hia, a Thai word equivalent to the acclamation “Fuck!” in English.
The vet added, “Hia may have scary features, and people think that the animals are harmful, but monitor lizards don’t usually attack first. When they see people, they’re likely to run away.”
“There have been a very few reports of people hurt by hia,” he said.
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