XCEPTIONAL REPTILES Monitor lizards are powerful reptiles There are more than 70 kinds of monitors These lizards live in warm climates They are found in Australia Asia and Africa Monitor Lizard Basics Monitor lizards are reptiles Their body temperature changes with their surroundings Dry bumpy scales cover their bodies Monitors vary in color Most are brown or gray But some have vividly colored scales Quince monitors are yellow Blue-spotted tree monitors are black with bright blue rings Emerald tree monitors are brilliant green Most monitors are meat-eaters They eat eggs birds fish and small mammals The largest monitors live on the ground The heaviest is the Komodo dragon at about 155 pounds 70 3 kg It can eat 80 percent of its body weight in one sitting Like other large monitors it hunts deer and water buffalo 5
MONITOR LIZARDS OF THE WORLD Monitor lizards are found in Africa Asia and Australia Most live in the warm tropics and subtropics tropics subtropics AFRICA KOMODO DRAGON The biggest recorded Komodo dragon weighed 366 pounds 166 kg It was 10 3 feet 3 1 m long SAGO MONITOR The sago monitor is nicknamed the torch monitor It is black with an orange snout 6
GRAY’S MONITOR Gray’s monitors live in the Philippines They eat mostly fruit and grow to five feet 1 5 m in length ASIA AUSTRAlIA CROCODILE MONITOR A crocodile monitor’s tail is more than twice the length of its body 7
