Description
The Water monitor is a large species of monitor lizard. Breeding maturity is attained for males when they are a relatively modest 40 cm (16 in) and weigh 1 kg (2.2 lb) and for females at 50 cm (20 in). However, they grow much larger throughout life, with males being larger than females. Most adult specimens will not exceed 1.5–2 m (4.9–6.6 ft) in length. However, the species can attain a maximum size of 3 m (9.8 ft). The largest specimen on record was an animal measuring 321cm from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). A common mature weight of Varanus salvator can be 19.5 kg (43 lb). The maximum weight of the species is over 50 kg (110 lb). In exceptional cases, the species has been reported to attain 75 to 90 kg (170 to 200 lb), though few such giants are verified and may be unreliable. They are the world's second heaviest lizard, after the Komodo dragon. Their body is muscular with a long, powerful, laterally compressed tail.
Read more about this topic: Water Monitor
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“It [Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any other place.”
—Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)