Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Varanus bitatawa
Varanus bitatawa is a new species of lizard was discovered in the Philippines. The lizard is a close relative of the komodo dragon and is part of the monitor family. However unlike the komodo the new monitor has evolved into a vegetartian eating mostly fruits. It is six and a half feet long and lives in a highly populated area. So how has it managed to stay hidden for so long? Well one reason is that they live high in the trees. An average of 66 feet above the ground and spend an average of only 20 minutes per week on the ground. Scientists have not performed many surveys in the mountains where the lizard lives so that is another reason why it has not been noticed. The tribes people of the area have known for a long time that the lizards are there and they hunt it for their meat. Scientists are now performing many new surveys of this area because they believe other species could be hiding there. They are afraid with the rapid deforestation the lizards a canidate for extinction. If a six and a half foot lizard has hidden from science for all these years it makes you wonder what else is out there hiding!
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No kidding! That's interesting, you think that they would have noticed by now. Learn something new everyday I guess. hah
ReplyDeleteWow... Giant Lizards hiding in trees.........
ReplyDeleteWhats next,a new species of Shark that can travel through the Earth and attack anyone at anytime, but it turns out they only eat Rocks, and bad guys?
Maybe no one noticed them because they thought it was a komodo dragon!
ReplyDeleteYeah that is very interesting, if a lizard can hide like that for sooo long, who knows maybe Bigfoot is really and maybe the Loch Ness Monster is too! I personally think that somewhere there are creatures like them. I also think that somewhere on the planet there are possibly living Dinosaurs. I mean the crocodiles lived, and so did the sharks, whos to say there isn't some other dino out there!
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