Posted by:
HaroldD
at Fri Aug 11 11:02:55 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by HaroldD ]
There are no vegetarian monitors. They do not have a digetsive tract that can extract protein from leaves.
Walter Auffenberg calls V. olvaceus "omnivorous" in that its diet is 66% fruit, albeit of a just a few kinds of fruit. It eats plenty of animal prey to get its protein. Fruits lack protein and might even be dangerous to feed tree monitors.
The diet of V. mabatang is really an unknown. Very few specimens have been found. Mario, herp breeder on Mindanao, is trying to get permits to take 2.2 mabitang into captivity. If he succeeds, we will learn a lot more about this most enigmatic of species.
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Vegetarian Monitor? - HaroldD, Fri Aug 11 11:02:55 2006