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News for the month of April 2002

Wow! These lizards have sharp teeth! (Crocodile Monitor)

Many of our viewers are not aware of this; but the Tigerhomes Sanctuary houses numerous species of wildlife not on camera. Among this group of animals is the rare and recently described Crocodile Monitor (Varanus salvadorii) lizard of New Guinea. This remarkable animal is said to be the longest living lizard with documented examples of over 14 feet in length. Now, I know what many of you are thinking, "I always thought the Komodo Dragon was the biggest lizard in town", WRONG! Although the Komodo Dragon is a huge lizard, its true claim to fame should be that it is the heaviest not the largest. To date the largest documented Komodo Dragon was a male measuring 10'2" and weighing in over 350 pounds. As mentioned above, the Crocodile Monitor can achieve a length of well over 10'2", but weighs significantly less. Although my research could not come up with the highest recorded weight on this species I can attest to the fact that the Sanctuary's largest male (9 feet) weighs in around 60 pounds. This low weight to size ratio is due to the fact that this species of monitor lizard is primarily tree dwelling or arboreal were as the Komodo is land dwelling or terrestrial.

Another interesting fact concerning this species is its incredibly long tail. The tail of Crocodile Monitor typically compromises two thirds of their entire length. This is not only a fantastic evolutionary physical adaptation to living a life high in the tree canopy (great for counterbalance), but it also makes a formidable weapon. Our group of 2:3 animals (Two Males and Three Females) routinely tries whipping me with their tails. They seem to aim for my eyes with remarkable accuracy. Lucky for me I have only been hit in the chest. Trust me, still not a pleasurable experience, leaving some intense bruises welts.

The tail is obviously not the only business end of this animal! The Crocodile Monitor lizard is also know to have the longest teeth and claws of any monitor lizard. The teeth typically being about 1.5 times longer than the Komodo's. This is a trait seen often in arboreal carnivores. The long razor sharp teeth actually help the animal hold onto their prey insuring it does not fall to the forest floor. If this was to happen they could not only lose their prey to another predator, but their life as well! A good example of this would be the rare and elusive tree dwelling Clouded Leopard from Nepal. This is the smallest of all the leopard species but they possess the largest canines to body weight of any living cat. Its specializes in catching birds, monkeys and an assortment of other canopy creatures by snatching them right out of the air. I have seen Clouded Leopards with canines approaching three inches! These arboreal animals cannot afford to drop their prey at any cost, so nature has equipped them with incredibly long sharp grasping teeth. Another example of this can be seen in the spectacular colored Emerald Tree Python. This animal's hunting technique is to coil around a tree branch motionless and then to lunge out snatching birds flying by. Holding on to them with dagger sized teeth located on the front of their top and lower jaws.

Due to the fact that there is very little information on these elusive animals in the wild, there is equally less information on their captive husbandry requirements. With even less information existing on captive breeding. In fact, to the best of my knowledge there have been less then five documented cases of successful hatching of captive-bred Crocodile Monitor eggs in the United States. For this reason we have contacted a fellow Zookeeper in Indonesia for his advice.

It seems the most important thing to do is to set up two adult males side by side in separate enclosures with one or two females each. It is imperative for them to be able to see and smell each other. This causes the males to get possesive over their females, which in turn stimulates breeding. It also seems that the females prefer to deposit their eggs in a substrate mound above the ground similar to that of true crocodilians. After learning these and numerous other husbandry methods we set up colony in a classic Tiger Homes styled large enclosure with a twelve-foot high canopy. One side of the enclosure housing Damian (8ft) and Medusa (5ft), and the other side housing El Diablo (9ft) and two unnamed 6ft females. Almost as soon as this side-by-side set up was in place El Diablo and Damian started ritual fighting between their common wall. This, as predicted also stimulated an interest in mating. All was going well until one day, El Diablo and Damian got together! Somehow, during their frequent ritual combat between habitats they ripped the partitioning wire open with their incredibly sharp claws. By the time I noticed it was too late. El Diablo, Damian and Medusa were shredded! Each animal having at least 10 lacerations ranging from one inch to four inches long with Damian and Medusa sustaining the worst injuries on their front left legs (triceps region). To make a long story short we were up for hours stitching them up under the guidance of one of the Sanctuary's vets. It took about 40 feet of suture material before everybody was put back together. We were very lucky they did not kill each other, which is so often the case with similar wild encounters. It has been about three weeks and everybody is doing well. In fact, Medusa was seen digging around her nest box this morning. I will keep you informed in about 7 to 9 months. We have since reinforced the separation point with extremely heavy-duty 6-gauge wire to prevent further direct contact between the males.

Remember, there are many ways to help the cause. Here are a few.

1) Tell everyone you know about the website. By increasing the number of visitors, we increase the awareness of the danger these wonderful creatures face.
2) If you have a website, link to us - http://www.tigerhomes.org/
3) Submit our site http://www.tigerhomes.org/ to any webcam sites you may visit.
4) Make a donation to the sanctuary. There is an area on the gift shop for those who want to contribute.
5) Purchase items from the gift shop. They make great gifts and are for a worthy cause.
6) Adopt a pet. It's a great way to virtually own one of the sanctuary animals.

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Remember, our main mission is to spread an interest in saving wild animals and wild places but we can't do it alone.

Story by: Jason and David