Keelbacks feeding and monitors fighting

[redbellybite]

great pics how lucky you were .....just one thing I want to say "how could you stand back and watch those poor helpless frogs being eaten by those horid snakes now ?""

BAHHHHHHH HA HA HA couldnt help myself ...

 

[wizz]

great pics

 

[eamonn]

Love the pics very nice, especially the first one of the monitors. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[naivepom]

great pics how lucky you were .....just one thing I want to say "how could you stand back and watch those poor helpless frogs being eaten by those horid snakes now ?""

BAHHHHHHH HA HA HA couldnt help myself ...

haha. yeah if the press got hold of it I would probably be described as callous.

I know nothing about monitors (or snakes really for that matter) but a very well informed person told me they were pretty much all V.gouldii at the common. Those monitors certainly didnt strike me as being particularly robust or particularly skinny so I dont think that is a useful ID'ing character. I really have no idea, but if Mr. Gould (or Mr. Panoptes?) gets on the forum and tells me its one of his then i'll go with that!

Yeah keelbacks can ingest cane toads but it doesnt actually do them any good - if they are fed a diet of nothing but cane toads they will die. Its kind of like eating celery, the energy you expend from eating it is more than it gives you in return. But as one poster already mentioned, the pics do not show a keelback eating a cane toad.

 

[naivepom]

Its all a bit confusing, but basically the specimen originally called V.gouldi is a yellow spotted monitor. Im not really sure what names are correct, but this link explains the situation.
Mampam Conservation - Varanus flavirufus

Bluey66, those books are excellent, but they cant keep up to date with taxonomy.

Awesome link cris - its rare to see a site go in to so much detail. Doesnt clear anything up about who was fighting but I guess thats the point - varanid taxonomy is a mess.

 

[TWENTY B]

Its all a bit confusing, but basically the specimen originally called V.gouldi is a yellow spotted monitor. Im not really sure what names are correct, but this link explains the situation.
Mampam Conservation - Varanus flavirufus

Bluey66, those books are excellent, but they cant keep up to date with taxonomy.

that hurt my brain,. i'll just stick to calling them what we have been calling them. and ignore that paper for now..

 

[gus11]

its predominantly panoptes in the common, goulds are much harder to find

 

[Palex134]

^^I was under that impression as well...that most were V. panoptes.