A video of a giant lizard scaling a Florida homeowner has gone viral on the internet, with people asking whether it’s Godzilla or not. I watched the video and gushed; this lizard is huge.
The New York Post got more;
A giant lizard described as “Godzilla” recently visited a home in Florida and was caught on video trying to climb up a window.
Video of what appeared to be a Savannah monitor lizard was taken from inside a home in Apopka, a city outside of Orlando, and shared earlier this month on Facebook.
“OMG! Look at this!” Jocelyn Penson wrote, adding that uninvited guest popped up at her son’s home. “Needless to say I won’t be visiting him any time soon!”
Penson said that the reptile was a monitor lizard, but added that it “looks like Godzilla to me!” The Savannah monitor lizard is not native to Florida, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said.
If it isn’t native to Florida, how did it get there?
Savannah monitors are stoutly built, with relatively short limbs and toes, and skulls and dentition adapted to feed on hard-shelled prey. They are robust creatures, with powerful limbs for digging, powerful jaws and blunt, peglike teeth. Maximum size is rarely more than 100 cm. The skin coloration pattern varies according to the local habitat substrate. The body scales are large, usually less than 100 scales around midbody, a partly laterally compressed tail with a double dorsal ridge and nostrils equidistant from the eyes and the tip of the snout.
The Savannah monitor is often confused with the white-throat monitor (Varanus albigularis), which can grow to lengths of 5–6 ft. While similar in overall appearance, this species possesses significant morphological and ecological differences and is recognized as a very distinct species.
Flip to the next page to watch the viral video…