Desert Monitor

• It covers considerable distances each day in search of prey, and its trails in the sand, with the drag mark of the tail between the footprints, are unmistakable to desert trackers.
• It hibernates for several months in deep burrows through the Central Asian winter, which is uncommon among monitor lizards, most of which are tropical.
• It is credited with medicinal properties in several Middle Eastern and Central Asian traditions, and that demand, along with the skin trade, has reduced its populations across much of its range.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (reptile)

Habitat and environment

Sandy and stony deserts, wadis and semi-deserts of North Africa and Central Asia

Sexual maturity

4.5 years

Gestation / incubation

120 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

20 eggs

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Varanus griseus