Goanna is the name used to refer to any number of Australian monitor lizards of the genus Varanus, as well as to certain species from Southeast Asia.

Around 30 species of goanna are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous reptiles range greatly in size and fill several ecological niches.^[1]

The goanna features prominently in Aboriginal mythology and Australian folklore.

Characteristics

Being predatory lizards, goannas are often quite large, or at least bulky, with sharp teeth and claws. The largest is the perentie (V. giganteus), which can grow over 2 m (6.6 ft) in length.

A goanna in Toowoomba, Darling Downs, Queensland

Not all goannas are gargantuan. Pygmy goannas may be smaller than a man's arm. The smallest of these, the short-tailed monitor (Varanus brevicuda) reaches only 20 cm in length. They survive on smaller prey, such as insects and mice.

Goannas combine predatory and scavenging behaviours. A goanna will prey upon any animal it can catch and is small enough to eat whole. Goannas have been blamed for the death of sheep by farmers, though most likely erroneously, as goannas are also eaters of carrion and are attracted to rotting meat.

Most goannas are dark in colouration, browns, blacks and greens featuring prominently. Many desert-dwelling species also feature yellow-red tones. Camouflage ranges from bands and stripes to splotches, speckles, and circles, and can change as the creature matures, with juveniles sometimes being brighter than adults.

Like most lizards, goannas lay eggs. Most lay eggs in a nest or burrow, but some species lay their eggs inside termite mounds. This offers protection and incubation; additionally, the termites may provide a meal for the young as they hatch. Unlike other species of lizards, goannas do not have the ability to regrow limbs or tails.

Habitats

Heath goanna (Varanus rosenbergii), Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Goannas are found throughout most of Australia, except for Tasmania, and manage to persist in a variety of environments. Most species are known to climb trees or outcrops; several primarily arboreal species are known. The lace monitor (V. varius) is probably the best-known amongst these, but is not the most common. The lace monitor is the second-largest of all goannas, reaching lengths of up to 2 m. Other more common tree goannas, such as the Timor tree monitor (V. timorensis) and mournful tree monitor (V. tristis) do not grow to quite such lengths, averaging only a few feet nose-to-tail.

Other goannas are adapted to swampy coastal environments, such as the mangrove goanna (V. semiremex). Further still, the Mertens' water monitor (water goanna – V. mertensi), found in lagoons and rivers across northern Australia, is streamlined for swimming, using its tail as a paddle. Most other goannas are good swimmers, but tend not to voluntarily venture into the water.

Diet

The diets of goannas vary greatly depending on the species and the habitat. Prey can include all manner of small animals: insects, smaller lizards, snakes, mammals, birds, and eggs.

Meals are often eaten whole, thus the size of their meals may depend on the size of the animals. Many of the small species feed mostly on insects, with some being small lizard experts. Many of the medium to large species will feed on whatever prey items they can catch. This includes eggs, fish (V. mertensi), birds, snails, smaller lizards, snakes, marsupials, and other small mammals, such as rodents. The giant perentie has been observed killing a young kangaroo, and then biting out chunks of flesh like a dog.

All species are carrion eaters, so will feed on the carcasses of dead animals, including livestock and other large creatures.^[2][3] The smell of rotting meat will attract these lizards.^{[citation needed]}

Goannas and humans

A goanna at Grey Gum picnic area at
Mount Coot-tha, Queensland, Australia

Confrontations

Like most native fauna, goannas are rather wary of human intrusions into their habitat, and will most likely run away (into the scrub, up a tree, or into the water, depending on the species). A goanna is a rather swift mover, and when pressed, will sprint short distances on its hind legs.

Goannas also rear up when threatened, either chased or cornered, and also inflate flaps of skin around their throats and emit harsh hissing noises.

Some goannas recover from their initial fear of humans, especially when food is involved (or food has been involved previously). This reinforces the wildlife authority's recommendation of not feeding animals while camping or adventuring, but most authorities doubt a goanna will actually direct an intentional attack at a human unless the human attempts to attack it (or grasp at it) first. Aborigines who hunt goannas for food consider the perentie as a high-risk (but tasty) prey.

The debate on whether goannas are venomous or not is growing. Previously, the incessant bleeding caused by goanna bites was thought to be the result of bacterial infection. A recent study^[4] suggests monitor lizards (including goannas) are venomous and have oral toxin-producing glands.

The goanna's hefty tail can be dangerous when swung, much like a crocodile's; small children and dogs have been knocked down by such attacks. Often, victims in goanna attacks are bystanders, watching the person antagonising the goanna.^{[citation needed]} Alarmed goannas can mistake standing humans for trees and attempt to climb off the ground to safety, which is understandably painful, as well as distressing for both man and beast.^{[citation needed]}

Goannas are protected species throughout Australia.

Culture and folklore

Goannas have a prominent place in the culture of indigenous Australians. This includes totemic relationships, anthropomorphic representations in dreamtime stories, and as a food source.

Representations of goannas are common in indigenous artwork, not just as food, but also as a symbolic spiritual motif. Goannas and the mighty perentie are often considered two different animals when used in aboriginal works, as illustrated by the story "How the Goanna and Perentie got their Colours".^[5]

European settlers perpetuated several old wives' tales about goanna habits and abilities; some of these have persisted in modern folklore amongst campers and bushmen. This includes the above-mentioned exaggeration of goannas dragging off sheep from shepherds' flocks in the night. These might even be exaggerated into child-snatching, rivalling drop bears (attack koalas) as a tourist scarer, probably more convincing due to the reptiles' carnivorous nature and fearsome appearance.

A common tale was that the bite of a goanna was infused with a powerful, incurable venom. Every year after the bite (or every seven years), the wound would flare up again. For many years, herpetologists generally believed goannas were nonvenomous, and lingering illness from their bites was due solely to infection and septicaemia as a result of their saliva being rife with bacteria from carrion and other food sources. However, in 2005, researchers at the University of Melbourne announced that oral venom glands had been found in both goannas and iguanas.^[6]

Because the goanna regularly eats snakes (often involving a fierce struggle between the two), they are often said to be immune to snake venom. The goanna does eat venomous snakes, but no evidence found suggests actual poison immunity. Other stories say the lizard eats a legendary plant, or drinks from a healing spring which neutralises the poison. This is immortalised in Banjo Paterson's humorous poem "Johnson's Antidote".

Possibly related to the above poison immunity, goanna fat or oil has been anecdotally imbued with mystical healing properties. Aborigines traditionally used goanna oil as an important bush medicine, and it also became a common medicine among whites in Australia's early days. Said to be a cure-all, and possessing amazing powers of penetration (passing through metal as if it were not there), it was sold amongst early settlers like snake oil in the Old West of North America.

In popular culture

Joanna the Goanna was featured in the movie The Rescuers Down Under as the cohort of the poacher McLeach. A goanna was also voiced by African-American actor Tone-Loc in FernGully: The Last Rainforest. Goannas appear as enemies in the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series by Krome Studios.

Etymology

The name goanna might have been derived from iguana, as early European settlers likened goannas to the South American lizards. Over time, the initial vowel sound was dropped. A similar explanation is used to link possum to the American opossum.

Another possibility is the name might have been derived from the South African term for a monitor lizard, leguaan, as the Cape of Good Hope was a popular refresher stop for immigrant ships to Australia from Britain.

Species

A lace monitor (V. varius) in Byfield National Park

Please note this list is incomplete. Complete list of genus Varanus

For the most part, in common names, "goanna" and "monitor" are interchangeable.

• Perentie – V. giganteus
• Lace monitor – V. varius
• Sand goanna – V. gouldii (also Gould's goanna or ground goanna)
• Mertens' water monitor – V. mertensi
• Spiny-tailed goanna – V. acanthurus (also ridge-tailed monitor)
• Mangrove goanna – V. semiremex
• Timor tree monitor – V. timorensis (also Timor monitor)
• Mournful tree monitor – V. tristis
• Short-tailed monitor – V. brevicuda
• Argus monitor – V. panoptes (also yellow-spotted monitor)
• Black-tailed goanna – V. cookii
• Rosenberg's goanna – V. rosenbergi
• Spencer's goanna – V. spenceri

See also

• Komodo dragon
• Monitor lizards

References

Other sources

• Cogger, H. (1967). Australian Reptiles in Colour. Sydney: A. H. & A. W. Reed, ISBN 0-589-07012-6
• King, Dennis & Green, Brian. 1999. Goannas: The Biology of Varanid Lizards. University of New South Wales Press. ISBN 0-86840-456-X
• Underhill, D. (1993). Australia's Dangerous Creatures. Sydney: Reader's Digest. ISBN 0-86438-018-6

Monitor lizards are generally large reptiles, although some can be as small as 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known. Almost all monitor lizards are carnivorous, although Varanus bitatawa, Varanus mabitang and Varanus olivaceus are also known to eat fruit.^[1][2] They are oviparous, laying from seven to 37 eggs, which they often cover with soil or protect in a hollow tree stump.^[3]

Distribution

The various species of Varanus cover a vast area, occurring through Africa, the Indian subcontinent from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka to China, down Southeast Asia to Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia and islands of the Indian Ocean, and South China Sea. There is also a large concentration of monitor lizards in Tioman Island in the Malaysian state of Pahang.

Evolution

The giant extinct Varanus priscus

Monitor lizards differ greatly from other lizards in several ways, possessing a relatively high metabolic rate for reptiles, and several sensory adaptations that benefit the hunting of live prey. Recent research indicates the varanid lizards may have some venom.^[4] This discovery of venom in monitor lizards, as well as in agamid lizards, led to the Toxicofera hypothesis: that all venomous lizards and snakes share a common venomous ancestor.^[5]

During the late Cretaceous era, monitor lizards or their close relatives are believed to have evolved into amphibious and then fully marine forms, the mosasaurs, which reached lengths of up to 17 m.

Snakes were believed to be more closely related to monitor lizards than any other type of extant reptile, however, it has been more recently proposed that snakes are the sister group of the clade of iguanians and anguimorphs.^[5]

During the Pleistocene epoch, giant monitor lizards lived in Southeast Asia and Australasia, the best known fossil being the megalania (Varanus priscus unless it falls in its own genus, in which case it is Megalania prisca). This species is an iconic member of the Pleistocene megafauna of Australia.

Some monitor lizards, including the Komodo dragon, are capable of parthenogenesis.^[6]

Etymology

The generic name Varanus is derived from the Arabic word waral ورل, (alternative word waran). The name comes from a common Semitic root ouran, waran, or waral meaning "lizard".^[7] The occasional habit of varanids to stand on their two hind legs and to appear to "monitor" their surroundings has been suggested to have led to this name, as it was Latinized into Varanus. Its common name is derived from the Latin word monere meaning "to warn".^[7]

In Malay / Indonesian Language varanids are called biawak. In Tamil and Malayalam, monitor lizards are known as udumbu, ghorpad घोरपड in Marathi, uda in Kannada, in Sinhalese as kabaragoya, in Telugu as Udumu, in Punjabi and Magahi (and other Bihari languages) as goh, in Assamese as "Gui Xaap" and in Bengali as goshaap or guishaap. Due to confusion with the large New World lizards of the family Iguanidae, the lizards became known as "goannas" in Australia. Similarly, in South Africa they are referred to as leguaan, from the Dutch for iguana. The generic name inspired the name of the Japanese movie monster Varan.

Intelligence

Varanid lizards are very intelligent, and some species can even count.^[8] Careful studies feeding V. albigularis at the San Diego Zoo varying numbers of snails showed that they can distinguish numbers up to six.^[8][9] V. niloticus lizards have been observed to cooperate when foraging.^[8] One varanid lures the female crocodile away from her nest, while the other opens the nest to feed on the eggs.^[8] The decoy then returns to also feed on the eggs.^[8][9] Komodo dragons, V. komodoensis, at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., recognize their keepers and seem to have distinct personalities.^[9]

In captivity

Injured Bengal monitor being nursed at the Lok Biradari Prakalp in India

Monitor lizards have become a staple in the reptile pet trade. The most commonly kept monitors are the savannah monitor and Ackies monitor, due to their relatively small size, low cost, and relatively calm dispositions with regular handling.^[7] Black throated monitors, white throated monitors, water monitors, nile monitors, mangrove monitors, emerald tree monitors, black tree monitors, acanthurus monitors, quince monitors, crocodile monitors and komodo dragons have been kept in captivity.^[7] Like all reptiles kept as pets, monitors need an appropriately sized enclosure, hiding places, and an appropriate substrate.^[7] Some water monitors also need a large water dish in which they can soak their entire bodies.^[7] In the wild, monitors will eat anything they can overpower, but crickets, superworms, feeder fish, and the occasional rodent (for calcium) make up most of the smaller captive monitors' diet. Boiled eggs, silkworms and earthworms can also be fed to them.^[7] Larger species, such as Nile monitors, Asian Water monitors, Crocodile monitors, Perenties, and Komodo dragons will eventually require larger prey. Paleontologist and Biology Professor at Temple University, Michael Balsai has observed V. prasinus eating fruit in captivity as has herpetologist and author, Robert G. Sprackland.^[7][10]

Culinary uses

Monitor lizards are eaten in parts of southern India and Malaysia, where their meat is considered an aphrodisiac.^[11][12]

Protected status

All but five species of monitor lizard are classified by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) under Appendix II, which is loosely defined as species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but may become so unless trade in such species is subject to strict regulation in order to avoid utilization incompatible with the survival of the species in the wild. The remaining five species - V. bengalensis, V. flavescens, V. griseus, V. komodoensis, and V. nebulosus - are classified under CITES Appendix I, which outlaws international commercial trade in the species.^[13]

In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and all other parts of South India, catching or killing of monitor lizards is banned under Protected Species Act.

Classification

Genus Varanus

Subgenus Empagusia:

V. bengalensis, Bengal Monitor

• V. bengalensis, Bengal Monitor
  • V. b. bengalensis, Bengal Monitor
  • V. b. nebulosus, Clouded Monitor
• V. dumerilii, Dumeril's Monitor
• V. flavescens, Yellow Monitor
• V. rudicollis, Black Roughneck Monitor

Subgenus Euprepiosaurus:

• V. beccarii, Black Tree Monitor
• V. boehmei, Golden-spotted Tree Monitor
• V. bogerti, Bogert's Tree Monitor
• V. caerulivirens, Turquoise Monitor
• V. cerambonensis, Ambon Monitor
• V. doreanus, Blue-tailed Monitor
• V. finschi, Finsch's Monitor
• V. indicus, Mangrove Monitor
• V. jobiensis, Peach-throat Monitor
• V. juxtindicus, Rennell Island Monitor
• V. keithhornei, Canopy Goanna, Nesbit River Monitor^[14]
• V. kordensis, Biak Tree Monitor
• V. macraei, Blue-spotted Tree Monitor

Varanus macraei, Blue-spotted tree monitor

• V. melinus, Quince Monitor^[15]
• V. lirungensis, Lirung Monitor
• V. obor, Sago Monitor
• V. prasinus, Emerald Tree Monitor, Emerald Monitor^[16]
• V. rainerguentheri Rainerguenther's Monitor
• V. reisingeri, Reisinger's Tree Monitor
• V. telenesetes, Rossel Island Tree Monitor
• V. yuwonoi, Tri-colored Monitor
• V. zugorum, Zug's Monitor

Subgenus Odatria:

V. timorensis, Timor Tree Monitor

• V. acanthurus, Ridge-tailed Monitor
  • V. a. acanthurus, Spiny-tailed Monitor
  • V. a. brachyurus, Common Ridge-tailed Monitor
  • V. a. insulanicus, Island Ridge-tailed Monitor
• V. auffenbergi, Peacock Monitor
• V. baritji, White's Dwarf Monitor, Black-spotted Ridge-tailed Monitor, Black-spotted Spiny-tailed Monitor^[17]
• V. brevicauda, Short-tailed Monitor
• V. bushi, Pilbara Monitor, Bush's Monitor
• V. caudolineatus, Stripe-tailed Monitor
• V. eremius, Desert Pygmy Monitor
• V. gilleni, Pygmy Mulga Monitor
• V. glauerti, Kimberley Rock Monitor
• V. glebopalma, Black-palmed Rock Monitor
• V. kingorum, King's Monitor
• V. mitchelli, Mitchell's Water Monitor
• V. pilbarensis, Pilbara Rock Monitor
• V. primordius, Blunt-spined Monitor
• V. scalaris, Banded Tree Monitor
• V. semiremex, Rusty Monitor
• V. similis, Spotted Tree Monitor
• V. storri, Storr's Monitor
  • V. s. storri, Eastern Storr's Monitor
  • V. s. ocreatus, Western Storr's Monitor
• V. timorensis, Timor Monitor
• V. tristis, Black-headed Monitor
  • V. t. orientalis, Freckled Monitor

Subgenus Papusaurus:

V. salvadorii, Crocodile Monitor

• V. salvadorii, Crocodile Monitor

Subgenus Philippinosaurus:

• V. bitatawa, Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard, Bitatawa
• V. mabitang, Panay Monitor
• V. olivaceus, Gray's Monitor

Subgenus Polydaedalus:

Nile Monitor

Ornate Monitor

White-throated Monitor on the Kalahari savannah

• V. albigularis, Rock Monitor
  • V. a. albigularis, White-throated Monitor
  • V. a. angolensis, Angola White-throated Monitor
  • V. a. microstictus, Eastern White-throated Monitor
• V. exanthematicus, Savannah Monitor
• V. niloticus, Nile Monitor
• V. ornatus, Ornate Monitor
• V. yemenensis, Yemen Monitor

Subgenus Psammosaurus:

• †V. darevskii (extinct)
• V. griseus, Desert Monitor [endangered]
  • V. g. griseus, Desert Monitor
  • V. g. caspius, Caspian Monitor
  • V. g. koniecznyi, Thar Desert monitor

Subgenus Soterosaurus:

• V. cumingi, Cuming's Water Monitor
• V. marmoratus, Phiippine Water Monitor
• V. nuchalis, Large-scaled Water Monitor
• V. palawanensis Palawan Water Monitor
• V. rasmusseni Rasmussen's Water Monitor
• V. salvator, Water Monitor
  • V. s. salvator, Sri Lankan Water Monitor
  • V. s. andamanensis, Andaman Islands Water Monitor
  • V. s. bivittatus, Two-striped Water Monitor
  • V. s. macromaculatus, Southeast Asian Water Monitor
  • V. s. ziegleri, Ziegler's Water Monitor
• V. togianus, Togian Water Monitor

Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator salvator)

Subgenus †Varaneades:

• †V. amnhophilis

Subgenus Varanus:

Perentie (Varanus giganteus)

Mertens' Water Monitor (Varanus mertensi) seen at the Australia Zoo

• V. giganteus, Perentie
• V. gouldii, Sand Goanna or Gould's Goanna
• V. komodoensis, Komodo Dragon
• V. mertensi, Mertens' Monitor
• V. panoptes
  • V. p. panoptes, Argus Monitor
  • V. p. horni, Horn's Monitor
  • V. p. rubidus, Yellow-spotted Monitor
• †V. priscus, Megalania (extinct)
• V. rosenbergi, Rosenberg's Goanna or Heath Monitor
• V. spenceri, Spencer's Goanna
• V. varius, Lace Monitor

Unassigned species:

• V. spinulosus, Spiny-Necked Monitor, Solomon Island Spiny Monitor^[18]

References