We have normally sighted Monitor Lizards on the forest floor in the Indian wilderness and always thought that one could sight them only on the ground.
During one of our safaris into the Yala Wildlife Sanctuary in Sri Lanka, our naturalist spotted a Monitor Lizard sleeping on a high branch of a tree. I was particularly curious to know how the naturalist spotted the Lizard since it was perfectly camouflaged. That's when he explained that it is a commonly exhibited behavior of this species. Thereafter, we made it a point to look out for Monitor Lizards apart from Leopards, while scanning the canopy.
On another safari on the same trip to Yala, Noel parked the Land cruiser in the shade of the trees next to a waterhole, hoping to see some action. We remembered the Monitor Lizard sighting the other day and turned our attention to the trees instead of the waterhole. And to our luck, we saw a big Lizard perched on the branch of a tree right next to the Land Cruiser. It was so beautifully camouflaged that unless one was looking for it, you could not spot it. It was noon time and the lighting wasn't particularly photography friendly but the camouflage was so perfect that we wanted to capture the experience and managed a few images despite the harsh light.
During one of our safaris into the Yala Wildlife Sanctuary in Sri Lanka, our naturalist spotted a Monitor Lizard sleeping on a high branch of a tree. I was particularly curious to know how the naturalist spotted the Lizard since it was perfectly camouflaged. That's when he explained that it is a commonly exhibited behavior of this species. Thereafter, we made it a point to look out for Monitor Lizards apart from Leopards, while scanning the canopy.
On another safari on the same trip to Yala, Noel parked the Land cruiser in the shade of the trees next to a waterhole, hoping to see some action. We remembered the Monitor Lizard sighting the other day and turned our attention to the trees instead of the waterhole. And to our luck, we saw a big Lizard perched on the branch of a tree right next to the Land Cruiser. It was so beautifully camouflaged that unless one was looking for it, you could not spot it. It was noon time and the lighting wasn't particularly photography friendly but the camouflage was so perfect that we wanted to capture the experience and managed a few images despite the harsh light.
6 comments:
This guy is really hard to spot.
I never thought that lizards would climb on trees. Great captures of this interesting behavior.
wow!! such a perfect camouflage!! it was hard to spot it in the second pic even tho i knew it was there!
He looks very well fed. Do they really climb in trees, haven't heard about that before.
OH SO COOL, that last image at the bottom...I could just about reach out and...no not going to touch him~
wow, i guess you have to have really sharp eyes to see them.. nice work! :)
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