CRB: Practical Assessment of Reproductive Biology of an Endangered or Threatened Species

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All 37 species of monitor lizards are considered as threatened or endangered. Habitat destruction and human intervention have caused serious disturbances in numerous populations of these lizards (genus Varanus). Complicating this decrease in diversity is that monitor lizards do not reproduce well in captivity. Indeed successful captive propagation of selected species has only occurred after sufficient behavioral and physiological information has been collected from natural populations. With permission from the Department of Nature Conservation in Namibia, Africa, Dr. Phillips will study savanna monitor lizards in their natural habitat. Integrating a series of field and laboratory studies, he and his colleague, Dr. Pratt, will determine the hormonal correlates of behavior in males and females, examine the environmental and social conditions required for successful hatching of eggs, and determine what causes reproductive dysfunction in captive female monitor lizards. Not only will these findings provide baseline data from which the other varanid species can be compared, but the establishment of ecophysiological data base that emphasizes the behavioral and endocrinological aspects of natural reproduction could proved a proximate solution for maintaining viable populations. Indeed information originating from this work is essential to establish successful captive breeding programs which will allow for the preservation of the species and the eventual reintroduction of these monitor lizards into the wild.