Argus Monitor

Meet Arnold!

Arnold is an Argus monitor - a species of monitor lizard native to Australia and New Guinea. These beautiful lizards have an amazing, unique behavior called tripoding. They will stand up right, balancing on their hind legs and their muscular tail! This behavior allows them to get a very good look at their surroundings and environment from a much higher angle than usual, since, like most monitors, their legs are relatively short and their bodies are close to the ground.

Argus monitors have a speckled pattern on their scales with many light colored, round spots with a small dark mark in the center that can resemble eyes. These eye-like patterns are where the Argus monitor gets both its common and scientific names. Argus is a figure in Greek Mythology, a giant covered in many eyes who served the goddess Hera. He is sometimes called Argus Panoptes - with the literal translation of panoptes being “all-seeing”. Scientists reached into the past to reference this towering figure when giving this striking animal its names.