Varanus Giganteus (Perentie): Diet

Monitor lizards, or varanids, are an ecologically diverse group of reptiles having extreme size disparity (Thompson and Withers 1997. J. Morphol. 233:127–152). They also inhabit a diverse range of habitats across Australia, Africa and Asia. This diversity creates a mechanism for varanids to adopt unique foraging strategies that are targeted at exploiting particular prey/food items where those species occur (Evans 2003. Biol. Rev. 78:513–551; Stayton 2005. J. Morphol. 263:47–59). Varanus giganteus is a large terrestrial varanid that inhabits arid areas of central Australia from Queensland, through the Northern Territory and Western Australia and is the fourth largest lizard in the world (Horn and King 2004. In Pianka and King [eds.], Varanoid Lizards of the World, pp. 335–354. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana). Despite V. giganteus being an iconic and conspicuous varanid there have been limited ecological studies of the species across its range (but see Heger and Heger 2007. Mertensiella 16:255–290).