Creature Feature

Species of the week:
Savannah Monitor (Varanus exanthematicus)

• Known as Bosc's Monitor in Europe (first described in scientific literature by French scientist Louis Bosc)
• Native to Africa

"Bosc's or Savannah Monitor lizards are a stoutly built species with relatively short limbs and toes, and a skull and dentition adapted to feed on hard shelled prey. Maximum size is usually between 3.5 to 5 feet in length, females are considerably smaller. The pattern and coloration of the skin vary according to the local habitat substrate. The body scales are large, usually less than 100 scales around midbody, a partly laterally compressed tail with a double dorsal ridge and a nostril situation equidistant from the eye and the tip of the snout.

Defense-

The main predators of juvenile Savannah Monitors are snakes and birds. It protects itself through camouflage and prefers to flee or play dead when in danger. If cornered, it defends itself with tail lashes and if need be, a powerful, vise-like bite. When confronted by a predator, the monitor sometimes rolls onto its back and grasps a hind leg in its mouth, forming a ring with its body and making itself harder for the animal to swallow whole while playing dead. Other common defenses for Savannah Monitors are hissing, tail whipping, "puffing up", and biting.

Diet-

In Senegal Iulusmillipedes were the most common prey of adults, in Ghana small crickets formed the bulk of the diet of animals less than two months old, orthopterans (especially Brachytrupes), scorpions and amphibians were the most common prey of animals 6–7 months old ." - Wikipedia

Bosc, a feisty 5 month old male owned by instagram's "jesthereptileguy"