A large monitor lizard was spotted in a house in
Bugambillias region of Cabo San Lucas. The animal was said to be “behaving
aggressively” and firefighters were called to deal with “a crocodile”.
When they responded they discovered the 1.5m lizard and
eventually caught it with a lasso harness used to control dangerous animals.
No one knows where the animal came from: they are native to
Asia and Africa but have been colonizing the Americas as an invasive species,
mainly due to lizards being kept as pest and then escaping or being turned loose when they become too large or dangerous to keep.
Monitor lizards have long necks, powerful tails and claws,
and well-developed limbs. The adult length of extant species ranges from 20 cm
(7.9 in) in some species, to over 3 m (10 ft) in the case of the venomous and
highly dangerous Komodo dragon. While most monitor lizards are carnivorous,
eating eggs, smaller reptiles, fish, birds and small mammals, some also eat
fruit and vegetation depending on where they live.