Nile Monitor

Varanus niloticus

Varanus niloticus, Nile Monitor, photo © by Michael Plagens

At Lake Baringo, Rift Valley, Kenya. October 2016. Length of this specimen is about 1-½ m.

From Wikipedia: Nile monitors can grow to about 120 to 220 cm. They have muscular bodies, strong legs, and powerful jaws. Their teeth are sharp and pointed in juvenile animals and become blunt and peg-like in adults. They also possess sharp claws used for climbing, digging, defense, or tearing at their prey. Like all monitors, they have forked tongues, with highly developed olfactory properties. The Nile monitor has quite striking, but variable, skin patterns, as they are greyish-brown above with greenish-yellow barring on the tail and large, greenish-yellow rosette-like spots on their backs with a blackish tiny spot in the middle. Their throats and undersides are an ochre-yellow to a creamy-yellow, often with faint barring.

Varanidae -- Monitor Lizard Family

More Information:


Kenya Natural History

Copyright Michael J. Plagens, page created 19 Jan. 2017.