“These huge, 8 foot long monitor lizards are among the largest reptiles alive on earth today”On the tropical island of Sri Lanka, National Geographic follows the trials of the intimidating 8 foot long water monitor lizards (Varanus salvator). Learn how they go from the hunted to become the hunters, fighting each other for dominance and tripling their size in their first year.
National Geographic follows the footsteps of a young monitor lizard as he grows into adulthood in the company of the island’s other residents – coconut-shredding robber Crabs, who use their powerful claws to tear open coconuts, and thousands of endemic rats.
We watch our young lizard as he evades his cannibalistic parents, fights off a hungry king cobra, avoids the sharp claws of the sea eagle, gets scared off by acid spraying ants, ravenously feeds on a sea turtle nest, and falls in love for the first time, after finally having established his dominance.
Monitor Lizards play a very important role in the food chain of Sri Lanka’s lagoons and forests, if they make it through the first year. Mature Monitor Lizards can grow up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) long, making some of them the largest reptiles on Earth.
A mother’s role ends with the laying of eggs and hatchlings are left to fend for themselves, find food and keep to the relative safety of the trees.
Monitors have long forked tongues that are used for chemoreception, reminiscent of but not identical to snakes’ tongues.
Modern law protects the monitor lizard from being human prey and the Sri Lankan people treat it with respect and reverence. This National Geographic ‘Special’ gives us a glimpse of these extraordinary mini dinosaurs alive today.
EXCLUSIVE: This DVD also contains an exclusive, 26 mins long bonus film ‘Gila Monster’, produced by National Geographic. Click here to see a video clip of this rare, large lizard of the Sonoran Desert.
Review:
“This documentary spotlights Sri Lanka’s monitor lizards, chronicling their lives from hatching to maturity. It is an intimate account of the life of water monitors, an oft-seen but little known reptile found in south-east Asia. This film reveals the behaviour and life history of these creatures and has a good story line with some amazing photography. There is superb underwater footage as well as scenes filmed inside the young lizard’s underground den. Its feeding habits are shown in great detail, with a dead shark and a raid on a chicken house particularly impressive.”
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