Dragon

When I started to call monitor lizard as dragon, it sound so cool. 'I am going to hunt down dragon'. No I mean shoot them with camera and study them. I am intrigue by their features and their size. I am amazed when I first saw one descending head down vertically along the Tembusu tree trunk. I search the web for their information but I did not see any anatomy drawing on the monitor lizards that are common to this part of the world. I had seen many of them at the Macritchie Reservoir park. We use to chase them around the park in mid-afternoon as they would ascend from the reservoir to take a rest from the heat, I supposed. The maximum we sighted were six in a single afternoon.
I did not have the opportunity to see them up close nor see them many time larger than their actual size. For the sake of understanding them, we made several trips to the botanic garden to track them down and observe their habit and behaviour. It was fun and exhilerating.

As we had expected, animal stay around their territory and would not wander too far away. We spotted three to four dragons (Varanus Salvator) As one ran into the bushes and we later found three of them within the wrought iron fences. One of them looked smaller than the other two. I supposed the smaller one could be their children.

Monitor Lizard looking for prey.

Possible Animal to have in the Organic Farm

Photography by Choo Meng Foo & Zhu Shengyiyu • Text by Choo Meng Foo

The one animal that is commonly found in the tropics is the monitor lizard. They are carnivorous I suppose and they are always foraging for other smaller animals, insects or arthropods. They are a common sight in places with water and abundance of other animals. They are also common in places where there are dumps. Somehow, they are scavenger too. They could swim and walk on land; they are very versatile. They live quite happily with turtles and larger fishes. They could grow to slightly more than one metres long.

Some possible animal to consider

1. Monitor Lizard
2. Bird – Pigeon, White-breasted Water Hen, Mandarin Duck, Spotted Dove
3. Frog – American Bull Frog (Not a good thing) 
4. Dragonflies

Monitor Lizard as Pet

1. http://www.vitalexotics.com/water-monitor-black-dragon-care-sheet/
2. http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/monitor_lizard.htm
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_lizard  – A general description of the Reptile. A good Start.
4. http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/malayan_water_monitor.htm 

The genus we photograph is possibly the Varanus Salvator or the Asian Water Monitor Lizard.

They come up on land whenever the weather is hot, especially during the mid-afternoon sun. They use to be a delicacy for the Chinese who are adventurous.

Animal are a necessity for Organic farm

When I asked the organic farmers how did they get rid of the pest. Some answered that they do not use insecticide and have to wash the insects off the leaf with water or removed them by hand. Another, said that they can use organic insecticide, such as a mixture of chilli powder and other herbs. I did see that taxi driver in Singapore uses Padang leaves to ward off cockroaches.
Perhaps there are better ways, as nature always kept the balance with another animal checking on one another.
The monitor lizard and the anteater, do helps to keep small animal and insects in check. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_lizard) Here a monitor lizard climb up one of the oldest tree in the Singapore botanical garden. They seems to be tame and they are quite a common sight in the garden. I suppose we can keep some of these in the organic farm too. As they are carnivorous an should not disturb the herb or the vegetable. Will have to study that. One should imagine the Organic farm as an organic garden instead, with animal and nature living in a symbiosis manner.

Monitor Lizard as Pest Control

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/dos-and-donts/animal-advisories/monitor-lizards