World Lizard Day 2022 : Monitor Lizard Count India

Monitor lizards are large reptile species found in the warmer regions of the world. They play an important ecological role in agricultural and forest ecosystems as an active scavenging predator by feeding on pests, snakes, carrions, and other smaller species. They are also a source of food for other predators which maintains a balance of the ecosystem and food chain in their respective habitats.
Four species of Monitor lizards are found in different regions of India, Bengal Monitor (Varanus bengalensis), Common Water Monitor (V. salvator), Yellow monitor (V. flavescens) and Desert Monitor (V. griseus). They are protected under Schedule I species under Wildlife Protection Act of India, 1972 and according to IUCN have a conservation status of Near Threatened (NT), Least Concern (LC), Endangered (EN) and Least Concern (LC) respectively. Recent scenarios show that the population of different species are declining due to urban sprawling, habitat degradation, habitat fragmentation, overuse of pesticides and many other reasons but there are no such in depth studies conducted to understand the scenario of monitor lizard species in India.
Therefore this program was initiated in 2022 to understand the distribution of different species of monitor lizards throughout India and to educate common people about these species by involving them in this counting process.

监测蜥蜴是分布于世界温暖地区的大型爬行动物种类。它们在农业和森林生态系统中扮演着重要的生态角色，作为积极的杂食性捕食者，通过捕食害虫、蛇、腐肉以及其他小型物种来维持生态平衡和食物链的稳定。它们也是其他捕食者的食物来源，有助于维持各自栖息地生态系统的平衡和食物链的稳定。在印度的不同地区发现了四种监测蜥蜴，包括孟加拉监测蜥蜴（Varanus bengalensis）、普通水监测蜥蜴（V. salvator）、黄监测蜥蜴（V. flavescens）和沙漠监测蜥蜴（V. griseus）。这些物种根据印度1972年《野生动物保护法》的规定被列为I类保护物种，并且根据IUCN的评估，它们的保护状况分别为近危（NT）、最低关注（LC）、濒危（EN）和最低关注（LC）。近期的情况表明，由于城市扩张、栖息地退化、栖息地破碎化、农药过度使用等诸多原因，不同物种的种群数量正在下降，但尚未进行深入研究以了解印度监测蜥蜴物种的实际情况。因此，该计划于2022年启动，旨在了解印度不同种类监测蜥蜴的分布情况，并通过让公众参与计数过程来提高他们对这些物种的认识。