This morning, as I was drinking my watermelon juice and catching up on my blurts, I heard rustling outside. I saw my cat, Latte, peering out and looking really interested. I thought it was just a noisy bird and was about to let Latte out to go chase it, but I almost screamed when I looked through my window. I swore a bit but only using my inside voice. I saw a monitor lizard rolling around in our compost heap. I didn't manage to get a picture of it because it slithered out of the gate before I could get a camera. Here's one from pixabay instead.
And here's Latte staring at it through the door.
Once the coast was clear I let Latte out, he immediately went to sniff the compost heap where the dinosaur had been rolling in. It wasn't big but it wasn't small either. In Thai we called these scaly beasts "ตัวเหี้ย" Tạw h̄eī̂y (the informal way) and "ตัวเงินตัวทอง" Tạw ngein tạw thxng (the more polite way). Luckily, I didn't let Latte out, he might have been eaten!! I would be devastated...dad would be happy though.
How is one supposed to pronounce "thxng"!?
Maybe the lizard did come for a Latte - we have no biscotti tho ;-)
It's actually pronounced "thong".
"thong" - as in very tiny knickers?
Actually, it's pronounced "tong" meaning gold in Thai.
We have a few of them running around where we live (lots of lakes)..nice animals, but I've yet to eat one...
And our dogs have never yet managed get a hold of one, before they scoot to safety ...but they do try very hard ... bless.
In india people say it Goe and it is believed to be very dangerous.
when i was a kid I use to watch videos of Komodo dragons , i don't know why but it was my interest.
Take care of the cat latte.
Do you have monitor lizards where you live? Smaller than a K-dragon, but still NOT a fun creature.
My daughter tells me they don't really feast on humans - so that's very comforting.
Currently i am living in a city and in city areas it is very rare that you will find these lizards but yes there have been incidents were Cobra and python were found.
The one incident i remember is from my university. A python was found there.
Anyways i last saw a monitor lizard when i was on a vacation to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
In my village these are found oftenly and people are scared of him though it eats small animals like baby of goat or frog. Human are not his prey.
This is not a dragon, it's called iguana. It has different breed too and not all of them are dangerous.
haha. One problem with trying to be clever is that you then have to be.
You may also wish to invest in a sense of humour - probably some very cheap such tokens today.
Now, there is a very simple and very important feature that would distinguish an iguana from a monitor lizard - what is it? (even in a photo)
Not that I'm trying to play smart, I'm just trying to point out something except you have any corrections to make to what I said, I'll very much appreciate it.
Awwwwww....smart arse....I'm a day late.....
sorry, couldn't resist.
As you know, I'm no zoologist, but these creatures I've seen! Not many in Bangkok, but did see one walk across a wall at one of my previous schools - no, wasn't a teacher slinking off for a fag!
The title was just an exaggeration, and btw it isn't an iguana. It's a monitor lizard, a descendant of the Komodo "dragon".
Okay, thank you for shedding more light and for making that amazing correction, I really appreciate it.