Cuming's water monitor, Mindanao water monitor, Philippine water monitor
The yellow-headed water monitor (Varanus cumingi), also commonly known as Cuming's water monitor, the Mindanao water monitor, and the Philippine water monitor, is a large species of monitor lizard in the family Varanidae. The species is endemic to the Philippines. It thrives in mangrove, forest and water margins in tropical refuges, where it feeds on birds, fishes, mammals, and carrion.
The specific name, cumingi, is in honor of English conchologist and botanist Hugh Cuming.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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starts withV. cumingi has the highest degree of yellow coloration among all the endemic water monitors in the Philippines, probably even in the world. The V. cumingi is a large lizard and medium-sized monitor lizard. The largest specimens its species can reaching a length of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) with a snout-vent length of 60 cm (24 in) and 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) in a mass.
V. cumingi is found in the southern Philippines, where it is distributed on Mindanao and a few small nearby islands.
The preferred natural habitats of V. cumingi are mangroves and moist forest, but it is also abundant in artificial habitats such as fish ponds and cultivated lands.
The diet of V. cumingi is composed of rodents, birds, fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, and other invertebrates, including eggs and carrion.
