Black Dragon Water Monitor

The Black Dragon Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) is a large semi-aquatic, carnivorous lizard native to New Guinea and Indonesia. Despite being a very large lizard (tluring 1.5 m) the Black Dragon Water Monitor is non-aggressive, and active during the morning and night when it ventures from its burrow on land, to swim in rivers and lakes before returning to the water hole to bask in the morning sun. They are classified as one of only two species in the genus Varanus that have legs longer than their bodies. These lizards are a highly sought-after type of water monitor lizard due to their exotic black color. A subspecies of water monitors, they are semi-aquatic, needing bodies of water for their survival. They are carnivorous and eat carrion, or dead flesh, including human bodies.