The world’s second largest lizard, outsized only by the Komodo dragon, is believed to have once been a native Hong Kong species before becoming extinct a hundred or so years ago…
But the common water monitor is back with a vengeance, and possibly even establishing a small population, a conservationist told SCMP.
A few of the repitles were captured in country parks and handed in to Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, according to Dr. Gary Ades, head of the centre’s fauna conservation department.
Ades thinks the reptiles were either released by local pet owners or had cunningly escaped from the illegal wildlife trade. He also reckons they’ve been breeding in small numbers.
He fears that the creatures might not survive the chilly Hong Kong winters, as some are from Malaysia and more tropical regions.
Anthony Lau, a Ph.D. candidate at HKU who has studied lizards for almost a decade, says that monitors were commonly kept as pets in Hong Kong.
He thinks that the disappearance of low-elevation wetlands and new housing developments may be to blame for the lack of sightings of native, wild specimens.
Adults can grow from 1.5 metres to 2 metres in length. A particularly biggun’ in Sri Lanka apparently grew to 3.21 metres in length.
The first time common water monitors were spotted in Hong Kong was between 1961 and 1963 in Sha Tau Kok, Fan Ling, Stonecutters Island and Cha Kwu Ling, according to official records kept by HKU’s School of Biological Sciences.
A spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said the department rescued an injured monitor from a water catchment in Tai Lam Country Park in April 2014. Sadly, the animal died after arriving at the AFCD Animal Management Centre.
The monitor is an indiscriminate, greedy carnivore that feeds on small mammals, fish, frogs, birds and their eggs, and decaying matter (nom).
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