Description: Savannah monitors are stoutly built, with relatively short limbs and toes, and skulls and dentition adapted to feed on hard-shelled prey. They are robust creatures, with powerful limbs for digging, powerful jaws and blunt, peglike teeth. Maximum size is rarely more than 100 cm. The skin coloration pattern varies according to the local habitat substrate. The body scales are large, usually less than 100 scales around midbody, a partly laterally compressed tail with a double dorsal ridge and nostrils equidistant from the eyes and the tip of the snout. The savannah monitor is often confused with the white-throat monitor (Varanus albigularis), which can grow to lengths of 5–6 ft. While similar in overall appearance, this species possesses significant morphological and ecological differences and is recognized as a very distinct species.
Habitat: Varanus exanthematicus occupies a variety of habitats in Africa. Its preferred habitat is the savannah, but they have adapted to other habitats as well. The lizards have adapted to habitats such as rocky dessert type areas, open forests and woodlands. They are not found in the rainforest or deserts
Range: Introduced into California and Florida. Its range extends throughout sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal east to Sudan and south almost to the Congo River and Rift Valley, where they are replaced by V. albigularis. V. exanthematicus is primarily a ground-dwelling species that shelters in burrows, although it is sometimes found in bushes or low trees. In the coastal plain of Ghana, V. exanthematicus juveniles are often associated with the burrows of the giant cricket Brachytrupes.
Diet: Their diet is much more restricted than that of other African monitor lizards, consisting mainly of snails, crabs, scorpions, millipedes, centipedes, orthopterans, mantids, hymenopterans, lepidopterans, beetles and other invertebrates, as well as frogs. Information about the diet of savannah monitors in the wild has been recorded in Senegal and Ghana. It feeds almost exclusively on arthropods and molluscs. In Senegal, Julus millipedes were the most common prey of adults; in Ghana, small crickets formed the bulk of the diet of animals less than 2 months old; orthopterans (especially Brachytrupes), scorpions and amphibians were the most common prey of animals 6–7 months old. Many adults also consume large quantities of snails. Full grown V. exanthematicus have teeth that are quite blunt to help them crack and eat snails. The jaw has evolved to put maximum leverage at the back of the jaw to crush snail shells. Adults will also eat carrion if they come across it. Wild savannah monitors are also known to occasionally eat lizard eggs (such as those of agamids and their own kind).
Reproduction: The breeding season for V. exanthematicus is the same as the feasting period. They feast and breed during the wet season. When a male finds a mate he will follow her around relentlessly, occasionally biting her on the neck and scratching her neck and legs with his claws. Eventually the female allows the two to mate.
The female will dig a nest herself and lay 20 to 50 eggs. Other sources say that the female digs nests that are 15-30 cm deep and only lays up to 15 eggs. Some females will lay their eggs in termite mounds. The eggs of V. exanthematicus have an unusually high hatch rate of 100 %. Incubation of the eggs takes five to six months and the eggs hatch out in March. In the sandy farmlands of Ghana it has been reported that up to 55 babies can be found in an area of 150,000m2 during August and September. The juveniles grow the quickest during their first two months
Status: Assessed as Least Concern. Although current exploitation levels are considered sustainable, the scale of exploitation for this species in Nigeria and countries further east is unknown and may be significant. Further research and monitoring is recommended to ensure that levels of exploitation do not increase leading to widespread declines; specifically to assess population trends of the heavily harvested populations in Ghana, Togo and Benin, and to evaluate the management of their established ranching system.
Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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