MONITOR LIZARD
				Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Chordata Reptilia Squamata Varanidae

This family includes the largest lizards alive. After the komodo dragon, the next largest lizard is the water monitor, which reaches up to 9 feet long (2.7 m).

Monitors have a slim, streamlined shape. Like snakes, they have long, forked tongues. If cornered they will hiss and lash about with their whip-like tails, and will bite and slash with their claws.

Monitors eat a wide variety of animals, as well as carrion, and all of them enjoy eating eggs. The Nile monitor swims well, while some other species are expert tree climbers. Monitors occur in most warm Asian and African regions. They are among the earliest group of lizards to appear, and date back about 130 million years.

The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard. It is a member of the monitor family. Males grow up to about 10 feet in length (3 m) and weigh up to 300 lbs. (136 kg). The dragons inhabit a few small Indonesian islands: Komodo, Rintja, Flores, and Padar. A Komodo dragon has a stout, powerful body and its toes end in long claws. It sleeps in holes among rocks at night and hunts for food such as deer, pigs, and monkeys during the day. It also feeds on carrion which is found by smell. The larger lizards drive smaller individuals away from food by lashing at them with their powerful tails. Females lay their eggs in August, and these take until the following April to hatch.