Butaan jump from incredible heights, land on the ground
with a huge crash and walk away uninjured. Jumps to the ground from 30m were
recorded by Auffenberg and our spool and line tracking suggests lizards
regularly jump from heights of 4-15m when they are unmolested. The amazing
jumping power of the butaan is undocumented in any other monitors lizard and
may be one more unique aspects of the Putras Biawak group.
The only obligate fruit-eaters among reptiles are three species of monitor lizard that live in the Philippines. Frugivorous vertebrates tend to be able to fly (almost all are bats and birds) and so these lizards have a unique ecological role as highly specialized and relatively immobile fruit eaters. Before this project started, the only studies of this unique giant and endangered lizard had involved killing the animals. We have developed a set of techniques that allow us to learn about these animals in a completely non-destructive way.
Butaan jump from incredible heights, land on the ground
with a huge crash and walk away uninjured. Jumps to the ground from 30m were
recorded by Auffenberg and our spool and line tracking suggests lizards
regularly jump from heights of 4-15m when they are unmolested. The amazing
jumping power of the butaan is undocumented in any other monitors lizard and
may be one more unique aspects of the Putras Biawak group.
The only obligate fruit-eaters among reptiles are three species of monitor lizard that live in the Philippines. Frugivorous vertebrates tend to be able to fly (almost all are bats and birds) and so these lizards have a unique ecological role as highly specialized and relatively immobile fruit eaters. Before this project started, the only studies of this unique giant and endangered lizard had involved killing the animals. We have developed a set of techniques that allow us to learn about these animals in a completely non-destructive way.