Emerald Tree Monitor (Varanus prasinus)

[-Peter]

Is it possible for someone to get a special license and obtain a few specimens from the Islands in North Queensland and then try and establish a breeding population in Australia?

Why on Earth would they consider introducing an exotic species onto the mainland? Just to satisfy a few herpers desire to own something they cant have?
Why stop at emerald tree monitors?
Anyway, another forum has a thread on this topic that Danny Brown and a few others have put forward some interesting info to. What ever you think its always an interesting topic.

 

[zan777]

Why on Earth would they consider introducing an exotic species onto the mainland? Just to satisfy a few herpers desire to own something they cant have?
Why stop at emerald tree monitors?
Anyway, another forum has a thread on this topic that Danny Brown and a few others have put forward some interesting info to. What ever you think its always an interesting topic.

I'm not sure if i made myself clear but when i say "establish a breeding population", I mean in captivity. And secondly if they are found in Australia they are obviously not an exotic species.

 

[-Peter]

Oh, you made yourself clear. Obviously I didnt. No, I read it again. I think I was clear.

 

[lizardman59]

stunning

 

[Waterrat]

stunning

who? Peter or zen777?

 

[zan777]

who? Peter or zen777?

I think you mean Zan

Oh, you made yourself clear. Obviously I didnt. No, I read it again. I think I was clear.

Just to clarify, are you saying these are an exotic non-native species that shouldn't be introduced to Australia? if so could you explain your reasoning?

thanks Zan

 

[TWENTY B]

they do qiute well in captivity, unfortunatly, they are not available to the australian public. yet

 

[bump73]

Just to clarify, are you saying these are an exotic non-native species that shouldn't be introduced to Australia? if so could you explain your reasoning?

thanks Zan

hey mate as far as i'm aware, and i could be wrong, they aren't found on mainland Australia. I know they are on islands in the Torres strait that are considered Australian territory but they aren't "Australia" as such. Therefore they are exotic and non-native.

Ben

 

[Waterrat]

bump73, if they inhabit an island that is classed as Australian Territory, then they are regarded as 'native'. Christmas Island is closer to Indonesia than it is to Australia but officially it's an Australian Territory. Some of the island species will probably never find their way into collections, like the Cyrtodactylus sadleiri (gecko) of Christmas Island.

 

[jinin]

I read up on these last year, sadly they aren't legally kept in NSW. They are soo nice though.

 

[bump73]

bump73, if they inhabit an island that is classed as Australian Territory, then they are regarded as 'native'. Christmas Island is closer to Indonesia than it is to Australia but officially it's an Australian Territory. Some of the island species will probably never find their way into collections, like the Cyrtodactylus sadleiri (gecko) of Christmas Island.

Exactly what i was getting at "legally" speaking they are native but from an ecological and common sense point of view they are not. It's like saying that animals that are found on Australian embassys around the world (i think they are considered Australian territory) are actually native to Australia, that examples possibly stretching it a bit though

Ben

 

[Waterrat]

Ben, it may seem that way but for instance, the wildlife department (federal) has the authority to issue permits to collect on those islands and they often do (for scientific purposes). So, although those places are not mainland Australia, they are still Australia, where the Australian Fauna Act applies.
I know for a fact that White-lipped pythons were collected on permit and subsequently kept in Australia.

 

[bump73]

This is begining to sound like another thread about allowing the import of exotics ( ie. animals that don't naturally occur on mainland australia) :lol::lol: Shouldn't be allowed in my opinion and let's face it chances are it won't be.

 

[Waterrat]

I don't understand why you're insisting on calling them exotics. The are not. Would you say Tasmanian copperheads and tigers are exotic? Magnetic island has got myriad of reptile species, are they also exotics?

 

[bump73]

I believe the line has to be drawn somewhere and it shouldn't come down to wether the animals are from Australian territories it should be based more on an animals native range, perhaps i should retract the exotic comment and say "they are non-native to Australia as in Australia the continent not including all the islands that fall under the Australian flag but may be up to 2000km away".
Let's face it New Zealand is geographically closer than say Christmas island but an animal from new zealand would be called exotic where as a animal from Christmas Island is called native, as far as i'm concerned they are both exotic to mainland Australia even if that doesn't fit in with the dictionary definition of the word.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Just a bit of info for the pros & cons... they were in fact on the NSW list of permitted species until quite recently, but eventually no one had them, so they've been deleted. I haven't looked at the most recent NSW list, but White-lipped Pythons WERE ON the list when I last looked.

Clearly, for the purposes of bureaucracy, V.prasinus was regarded as an Australian native when they were in the system. Some very reputable people suggest they've seen them on Cape York.

Jamie.

 

[bogdan]

Some were confiscated recently and taken for DNA testing.
If they ever get on license it will just be the green version of wheeleri or was that depressa???

 

[Waterrat]

I believe the line has to be drawn somewhere and it shouldn't come down to wether the animals are from Australian territories it should be based more on an animals native range, perhaps i should retract the exotic comment and say "they are non-native to Australia as in Australia the continent not including all the islands that fall under the Australian flag but may be up to 2000km away".
Let's face it New Zealand is geographically closer than say Christmas island but an animal from new zealand would be called exotic where as a animal from Christmas Island is called native, as far as i'm concerned they are both exotic to mainland Australia even if that doesn't fit in with the dictionary definition of the word.

I am giving up. What has NZ to do with Australia? I thought NZ is a different country whichever way you look at it.
So would you exclude Hinchinbrook Is., Withsunday islands, all the Bass Straight islands, etc., etc.? They all contain exotic fauna? Why 2000km away, why not 2km away?

 

[bogdan]

some were taken recently to Taronga for DNA testing
if they ever get on license it will just be the green version of wheeleri all over again

 

[kupper]

It would be pretty sweet either way to have some new additions to the overall species count within Australia ....now we just need to get oenpelli