I don't think my education limits me to only asking academic questions, it was worded that way because I am interested in opinions and perceptions about monitor lizard leather and meat.
In my experience communities who collect lizards for skins tend to be Islamic, and consider the meat the be unclean, whilst communities who eat the lizards are usually unaware that the skins have value. So the ideal of lizards being used in ways that minimise waste rarely happens. It's always the case that it's the very poorest people who are catching lizards, whether it be for meat, leather or wildlife trade. As for the conservation, I only know of two studies that looked at the effect of leather trade on lizard populations and one that looked at the effects of wildlife trade. None of them found major problems, which is probably a testament to the high fecundity of monitor lizards. If somebody looked at the collection of gravid females in species endemic to small islands they might come to a very different conclusion...
Curiously in Thailand biawaks are considered foul animals; people don't like to say their name and certainly wouldn't eat them, but bengalensis are considered tasty. Nowt as queer as folk, as they say in Glossop.
Thanks for the responses.
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Mampam Conservation

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