Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was flipping through the channels and I saw the last little bit where steve was messing with a savana monitor. What did he say about them? I saw him talk about poo and thats it.
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irtBikeBoy50@aol.com" target="_blank">DirtBikeBoy50@aol.comMy pets: Savanna Monitor, 2 pictus geckos,hamster,cat,and 6 goldfish.

Did he pull the Sav from under a rock?If so nothing a sav keeper wouldnt know already.

It was the special about African cobras. That monitor he caught was a wild albigularis, since they live in savannah grasslands they call them savannah monitors. The bosc in the wild is very small in comparison. One eats cobras (WT)and the other is eaten by cobras(bosc). He pointed out the snail shell remains on the big crap stain on his cloths after handling it.

I noticed that immediately. I know that the Iodides and the true Savannahs used to be all lumped together as 'Savannah Monitors'. They are now separated into two species. I was surprised to see that Steve didn't know that. That kind of stuff is his job right?

I remember him saying that he didn't know that Savannahs got that big (holding the Iodides). I thought to myself they don't. The Iodides get much bigger than the Savannahs.

I guess Steve-O is allowed a mistake every so often.

right before he put the monitor back, he did say "this is a savannah, also known as white throat monitor"

perhaps his size reference about it getting that big was in reference to how big and stocky that one was. aside from the ticks, that was one of the biggest, most muscular and healthy white throats i've ever seen in the wild (on specials that is).
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"no time for the old in-and-out love, i've just come to read the meter"

Emily
npoh.egomantra.com

Are caught by locals weeks or months ahead then stored in barrels or containers until the show is filmed then released, thats why most are so skinny and small. You dont expect those nature documentary types to spend weeks or more locating animals when they are mostly actors. Steve isnt just an actor.
The reference was a savannah as in a semi arid grassland monitor, which describes the whitethroat or blackthroat monitor. The bosc monitor is a smaller species that is more likely to be found by farmers fields than in savannah grasslands. He called it a savannah monitor because truelly it is but the bosc picked up the name from the fact of describing the whitethroat when they considered the same. By the way thats a whitethroat not an ionides (BT).

I thought that whitethroat and blackthroat were considered the same species. I know there are color variations but they can be cross-bred which would mean they are the same species by some definitions. I've never heard of a Bosc and WT/BT being cross-bred.

Anyone know for sure about the WT/BT issue?

After a bit of research I've learned that the white-throated (Varanus albigularis albigularis) and black-throated (Varanus albigularis microstictus) monitors are aparently considered separate species.

By technical definition two different species cannot interbreed(dogs and cats for instance). So what of the breeders doing crosses?? Would it mean that technically varanids are all one species? This is something that stumped me, but I never had the balls(so to speak) to question it. I know what I learned in natural science, and this info is non-concurrent.
Michelle

More differences between them than the differences within the Goulds/sand monitor complex. Savannah is a semi-arid grassland, whitethroats are found in that environment therefore they truely are savannah monitors as well as many species from around the world. The bosc monitor was once thought to be the same species as the WT or BT, so it to was called the savannah monitor (in American pet trade). The true names of that species V.Exanthematicus or Bosc monitor as called in 1792, is found more often farther north in Africa near or in Farmers fields. The Albigularis (translated -whitethoat)is found in arid to semiarid grassland to woodland environments is a much larger species (second largest in Africa).
This is why I try to use the term bosc not savannah monitor because it technically describes too many species from around the world.

The other animal planet shows like Jeff Corwin, Mark O'shea, are you saying that Steve doesn't use caught animals?

I Suspect the animals are stored before filming. I dont know about those in particular, but too many scenes on Jeff Corwin the animals are set up ahead of time for him, the way he literaly stumbles on them.

It is more you do not understand. What we call things here in the states is not always what they are called elsewhere. If you watched the show you should of noted he did say whitethroated monitor. He used savannah monitor as the origin or area's they inhabit as in a group that lives in a savannah habitat. I do not believe he thought it to be a (what we call savanna monitor)Bosc monitor. For a wild whitethroat (not blackthroat ionides) it was pretty big and bulky did you notice the huge muscles on top of it's head. It no doubtedly eats alot of snails to grow those muscles.

Anyways good on ya for atleast knowing it was not a bosc monitor.

Later
Jody

Yes, Svhar is right, and there is more re: etymology of the name: Savanna Monitor: that name has been applied to Bosc's monitor, V. exanthematicus since circa 1905, V. albigularis (the one on Steve's show eating the African land snails Achatina fulica in the poo) since circa 1920's (i.e. British East Africa era) and for the rare undetermined V. ocellatus of east Africa since 1905.

Officially V. exanthematicus size record is ??, but I have 5'7" V. exanthematicus myself; for V. albigularis it is 7'3"; for V. niloticus it is 7'11". V. albigularis is the largest of the "savanna" habitats where water is scarce; where water is nearby, maybe V. niloticus, but finding animals this large nowadays is rare as bushmeat, skin trade and habitat loss restrict maximum size growths via human (over-)population.
cheers,
mbayless