If you were recently driving down a Florida highway, no that wasn't a dinosaur or even Godzilla on the roadway. It wasn't even a gator. No, drivers recently came across a human-size Asian water monitor. The 5-foot lizard crawled across busy traffic in Florida.
One motorist recorded a video and posted it on social media of the lizard. "He's huge," Renee Aland said in the video. "He's just strutting across the road. He's heading to the other side of the road." Her daughter wanted to get closer, but she told her, "Nope, just stay in the car." Aland said that she did "double take" when she saw the lizard. She saw the reptile near the North Port on May 20.
She later called Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Speaking with WBBH-TV, the Florida resident thought the lizard was a dinosaur at first. She said, "When we got closer, I looked, and I saw his tongue, [a] lizard tongue coming out, and I was like, 'Oh, crap, that's not a gator!'"
The Florida resident couldn't believe the size of the lizard. It was the biggest one that she has ever seen. "It was like this big lizard, and I've seen something like it before. Have you heard of the show 'Jessie' for Disney Channel? It was like that big lizard in 'Jessie,'" Marzonie said. "It was just strolling. It was huge, at least four, five feet. It was pretty crazy. I wanted to get out and get closer, I was like what is that? I wanted to see it but she said, 'No, stay in the car.'"
Big Lizards In Florida
However, Aland found the experience to be really cool. She said, "It was really cool, never seen anything like that before, but the concern is what it is doing to our native wildlife. Obviously, they're pretty voracious eaters, so I can't imagine they're good for our ecosystem." While native to Southeast Asia, the water monitor isn't an animal of the United States. As a result, they're an invasive species but sometimes kept as pets. They grow up to six feet and eat snakes, insects, birds, and frogs.
Technically speaking water monitors are the largest lizards in the world (sorry again, Godzilla). It's a sight that this motorist won't forget anytime soon.
