Varanus Indicus - Distribution and Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

The Mangrove monitor's range extends throughout Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands and the Marianas Islands, where it inhabits damp forests near coastal rivers, mangroves, and permanent inland lakes. It also occurs on the Moluccan islands of Morotai, Ternate, Halmahera, Obi, Buru, Ambon, Haruku, and Seram. Within this range of thousands of miles across hundreds of islands there is a huge amount of variation in size, pattern and scalation. The monitors have also been introduced to Japan since the 1940s. Like the introduction to Japan, some herpetologists believe this animal's dispersal from the East Indies to smaller Pacific islands was facilitated by Polynesians in order to provide a meat supply. However, other scientists maintain this is not likely as the monitors would compete with man for food, grow slowly, and yield little meat.