Meet the Lace monitor
The lace monitor is one of Australia's largest lizards and the big goanna of eastern forests. Despite its size it is an excellent climber, scaling tree trunks with its long claws and sheltering in tree hollows, under fallen trees or among large rocks.
It can forage up to 3 km in a day and is largely a scavenger, feeding on dead animals as well as insects, reptiles, small mammals, birds and eggs. Around campsites and farms it has learnt to raid rubbish bins and chicken coops.
Females lay an average of about eight eggs in active termite mounds, either on the ground or in trees. The eggs stay inside the mound over winter and hatch some six to seven months later.
Some lace monitors occur in a striking banded form called Bell's phase, with broad yellow-brown and black bands, living alongside normally coloured animals. Research at the University of Melbourne reported in 2005 found that lace monitor bites can cause rapid swelling, local disruption of blood clotting and shooting pain, adding to evidence that monitors have venom.
Where it lives
Eastern Australia from Cape York Peninsula in Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria to south-eastern South Australia. Found in forests and woodlands, and often around picnic grounds and campsites.