Monitor is the name of a large group of lizards that live in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Australia, the East Indies, southern Asia, and Africa. In Australia, monitors are called goannas. A monitor has a long head and neck, and a narrow, deeply forked tongue. The body is usually black or brown with yellow bands, spots, or mottling. The legs are short and powerful, and the tail has a whiplike end. Monitors are usually at least 4 feet (1.2 meters) long. One, the Komodo dragon, is often 10 feet (3 meters) long. This species lives on the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia.
When a monitor is cornered, it stands high on its legs and puffs up its body. This display makes the animal look larger than it is. A monitor may also defend itself by using its tail like a whip or by biting with its sharp teeth.
A monitor will eat almost any animal it can kill, including other reptiles, birds, mammals, insects, and crustaceans. Many monitors live near water, and they are all good swimmers and divers. When they swim, they hold their legs against their sides, driving forward by weaving their bodies and tails. Monitors lay eggs, and climb well. The best-known species are the Komodo dragon, the Nile monitor of Africa, and the water monitor, which lives from India to northern Australia.
