- Where to see one
- 3 U.S. zoos in our directory hold gray's monitor, confirmed against each zoo's own animal list.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated
This species has not been assessed for the IUCN Red List, so it sits outside the threat scale entirely.
About the gray's monitor
Gray's monitor, also called the butaan, is a large monitor lizard of up to about 180 cm and more than 9 kg, known only from lowland dipterocarp forest in southern Luzon, Catanduanes and Polillo Island in the Philippines. It is largely arboreal and extremely shy, resting in tree hollows. Unusually for a monitor, it feeds primarily on ripe fruit, especially Pandanus, though it also eats snails, crabs, spiders, beetles, birds and eggs. This diet may reflect competition with water monitors that share its range. Females lay up to 11 eggs between July and October, and incubation may last around 300 days.
Gray's Monitor facts
- Most monitors are carnivores, which makes this fruit-eating species an exception among varanids.
- The northern Luzon population was recognized as a separate species, the northern Sierra Madre forest monitor, in 2010.
- Habitat loss, hunting for food and the pet trade threaten it, and it occupies a fragmented area under 20,000 km2.
- It belongs to the subgenus Philippinosaurus and is also called the ornate monitor.
Where to see gray's monitor in the U.S.
3 zoos across 2 states
Find the closest one
Rank the 3 zoos holding gray's monitor by how far they are from you. Your location is used in your browser to sort this list and is never sent to us.
AZAThe Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Accredited members have passed an independent inspection of animal care and welfare, safety, conservation and education, repeated every five years. Many smaller facilities never apply, so “not accredited” isn't a verdict on its own. What accreditation means · How we check this
Built from each zoo's own published animal list.
