SINGAPORE: The National Parks Board (NParks) is investigating the case of a non-native monitor lizard that wandered into a Punggol flat last week, it said on Wednesday (Jul 3).
The lizard is a Rock Monitor, according to NParks, which is not native to Singapore.
“NParks was alerted to a sighting of an adult monitor lizard in a HDB flat at Punggol on Jun 27. The monitor lizard was subsequently secured and removed from the HDB flat,” Mr How Choon Beng, NPark’s group director of wildlife management told CNA in its statement.
“As the monitor lizard is a non-native Rock Monitor (Varanus albigularis), NParks is currently looking into the matter.”
Non-native refers to species that originated elsewhere, and are introduced either intentionally or unintentionally into an ecosystem.
The Rock Monitor is a species of monitor lizard found in Africa, and is usually grey-brown with yellowish or white markings.
“NOT FROM SINGAPORE”
Mr Kannan Raja, president of the Herpetological Society of Singapore, said: “From the looks of it, it could be a black-throated monitor, which is a subspecies (of the Rock Monitor) found in parts of Africa.”
“This monitor lizard is not from Singapore. It took a very wrong turn to end up here,” he quipped.
The three species of monitor lizards that can be found in Singapore are the Malayan water monitor, the clouded monitor lizard and the Dumeril’s monitor.
A video of the reptile lumbering around the living room and exploring the balcony of the 11th-storey Punggol flat – where it had been kept locked out – went viral after CNA’s story.