White-Throated Monitor

© Tyrone Ping

Name

White-throated Monitor, Southern Rock Monitor (Varanus albigularis albigularis)

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Varanidae

Subspecies

Angola White-throated Monitor - Varanus albigularis angolensis
Eastern White-throated Monitor - Varanus albigularis microstictu
Varanus albigularis angolesis, which has not been well established.

White-throated Monitor Description

Male and female white-throated monitors are 400 to 500 mm. It is a very large and stocky lizard with strong claws and limbs. It is a dark greyish-brown colour on its back, marked with five or six light yellow blotches, bordered by a darker brown. It has a big, rounded snout and slit-like nostrils located near the eyes.

White-throated Monitor Diet

The white-throated monitor mainly feeds on grasshoppers, beetles, land snails and millipedes.

White-throated Monitor Breeding

Females lay their eggs during early summer and lay eight to 51 at a time depending on her body size. In captivity, the eggs take 110 to 120 days to hatch and take much longer in their natural habitat.

Distribution

In South Africa, they occur throughout savanna and semi-desert areas but not in the Western Cape. They also occur in the savannas of East Africa, and the savannas and semi-deserts of sub-Saharan Africa.