Reptiles
Rock Monitor
Varanus albigularis · also called white-throated monitor
Among the boulders of a Namibian hillside, a rock monitor pokes its blunt snout from a crevice, tongue flicking as it tests the air for beetles and snails.
Overview
The rock monitor, Varanus albigularis, is a Least Concern lizard of savanna, scrub, and rocky ground across southern and eastern Africa. Its stocky build, snail-crushing teeth, and loud hissing make it one of the most distinctive of the African monitor lizards.
A monitor that crushes its food
The rock monitor’s blunt teeth let it crack snail shells and the armoured bodies of beetles and millipedes, unlike the sharper-toothed monitors that eat mostly vertebrates.
Status
Least Concern, widespread across a large range.
Rock Monitor: common questions
How is the rock monitor different from the Nile monitor?
It is stockier, with a short, blunt snout, and spends more time on land and among rocks than the water-loving Nile monitor.
What does the rock monitor eat?
It eats snails, insects, millipedes, eggs, small mammals, reptiles, and carrion.
How does it defend itself?
It inflates its body, hisses loudly, and lashes its tail when threatened.
Where is the rock monitor found?
It lives in savanna, scrub, and rocky ground across southern and eastern Africa.