Dragonskin

Facts

Dragonskin monitors were striking monitor lizards that recently colonized the island but had evolved into a new species. Having likely arrived on rafts of vegetation or driftwood from somewhere in Southeast Asia, they developed brilliant red scales that were even more vivid in the breeding season.

The precise function of the markings is not clear, though it may have been to startle predators. Both sexes were brighly colored. Dragonskin monitors fed on eggs and small creatures they found along the rocky shore and on the cliffs they nimbly climbed.

Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September; as many as 30 eggs are deposited at a time in an in some hole inside the cliffs. The eggs are incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when crustaceans are most plentiful. YoungDragonskins are vulnerable and dwell in the cliffs to avoid predators, such as cannibalistic adults. They take 8 to 9 years to mature .