Large endangered lizard caught on camera a decade after last spotting

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Infrared cameras have recently captured footage of Asian water monitors in the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park in south China's Hainan Province, recording the species for the first time in more than a decade.

The Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator), also known as the common water monitor, is a large lizard native to South and Southeast Asia. It is one of the largest lizards, with an adult length of more than 1.5 meters. They live in tropical evergreen rainforests and sometimes subtropical forests but never stray too far from a water source.

In China, its population is mainly distributed in the Guangdong, Hainan and Yunnan provinces, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The species is listed as critically endangered in the China Red Data Book of Endangered Animals and is under China's national first-class protection, as it is rarely seen in the wild in the country.

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