#crocodile monitor

[animalphotorefs]

Get more from Animal Photo Reference Repository on Patreon

Non-AI animal images for art, academics, media, and more!

Quickly boosting the repository's Patreon! This is where the magic happens (aka where you get sneak peeks of upcoming photos, plus exclusive videos)!

The art reference project is run entirely on donations. Contributions from users like you make it so I can continue expanding the species and photosets.

Here's a quick cost breakdown of my recent day-trip to go add newborn elephant photos to the repository:

Gas - $75

Camera lens rental - $45 (needed for specific building/lighting conditions)

Zoo ticket - $26

Parking - $10

Food - none, brought it with me

Lodging - none, day-trip

Time - 6.5 hours of driving, 6 hours at the zoo

Total: 12.5 hours of time and $156 for day-of trip costs. All covered by one month of support from current Patrons!

What it contributed for site (online soon):

Newborn Asian elephant photos

At least five new species (insects!) for a whole new site category

Nesting behavior in red-billed hornbills

Two new amphibian species

Way better photos of a crocodile monitor than currently on the site

Wing references for California condors in flight!

Harbor seal banana pose, 1-800-r-u-slapping pose, and face/flipper closeups

Some stellar mountain goat shots

Right now the Patreon funds one day trip like this a month, as long as it's within a couple hours drive from my home base. My current goal is for the Patreon to reach maybe... 350 a month? $350 a month would let me travel further afield this summer - driving and car-camping a couple days at a time - to capture species not in human care in the PNW. Can we make it happen? There's a reptile place with over 80 species of snake I'm itching to return to... and baby bongos just begging to be photographed...

Thanks so much to all of my current Patrons! You're literally why I can keep doing this work and running the site.

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Crocodile Monitor (Varanus salvadorii)

(Photo from Smithsonian National Zoo)

Conservation Status- Least Concern

Habitat- New Guinea; Indonesia

Size (Weight/Length)- 20 kg; 2.3 m

Diet- Mammals; Birds; Fish

Cool Facts- The crocodile monitor is the longest lizard in the world, although they are less heavy than the Komodo dragon. Despite their huge size, these monitor lizards spend the majority of their lives in the trees. Their serrated teeth are perfectly adapted for grabbing fast-moving prey, add in their speed and stamina and these tiny dragons can take down deer and pigs. After taking down a large animal, the crocodile monitor hauls its catch into the canopy to eat in peace. Their tails are semi prehensile, although adults are typically too heavy to hang from only their tail. This long tail is also used like a whip against threats and its bite typically causes a severe infection. The crocodile monitor is threatened from illegal poaching for the pet trade, overhunting, and deforestation.

Rating- 11/10 (Masters at sprinting through the treetops.)

[lizardsdaily]

🦎 Crocodile Monitor - Varanus salvadorii

📷 Arco / G. Lacz 

[kaijutegu]

Dallas Zoo has hatched three baby crocodile monitors so far this month! This is the most recent– they hatched out on the 25th. Even as tiny babies, crocodile monitors’ big blocky heads are evident.

That Roman nose is just so distinctive and cool. What’s less evident in the babies is just how long their tails are as adults.

That’s one of the parents of the hatchlings- I took this back in 2020 when I was visiting the Dallas Zoo, and even though there’s some perspective issues, the tails of these creatures really are incredibly long! About 2/3 of their 8+ foot length is tail. As you might imagine, they spend a lot of their time in trees– the tail is used to balance and even has a semi-prehensile grip that lets them hang onto branches.

Although they’re arboreal during the day, they prefer to sleep on the ground or in water. They’re a really cool lizard, and they’re challenging to breed in captivity. The clutch that’s hatching at Dallas is highly unusual, and very exciting to see!

[milomortimer]

I HAVE HAD A REVELATION!

Crocodile monitors!! It's crocodile monitors!!

Like komodo dragons but smaller and without venom! I found it! It's me!!! I'M A CROCODILE MONITOR!!

[lightningshotss]

Crocodile Monitor (varanus salvadorii)

taken at the Denver Zoo in Denver, Colorado

status: least concern

These big lizards can reach up to 8 feet when fully grown and can use their tail as a whip to defend themselves.

[alekivz]

some life drawing at the zoo of my favourite animals: the patagonian cavies, very cute and weird... and a crocodile monitor who was having a great nap up until i decided to draw him, which of court made him wake up and move around quite a bit... 

[jacensolodjo]

Komodo dragon and croc monitor. I swear the komodo posed for me.