Pygmy Mulga Monitors like all other goannas and monitor lizards have a forked tongue that they flick in and out to 'taste' the air when searching for food.
Common name: Pygmy Mulga Monitor (a type of goanna)
Scientific name: Varanus gilleni
Photo: R. W. G. Jenkins/Nature Focus, Australian Museum
Find our about other animals that live in Australian deserts.
Reptiles
Pygmy Mulga Monitor
Pygmy Mulga Monitors are goannas that live in central and central-western Australia. They are found in under bark, in cracks and hollows in trees like mulga in desert areas.
This Pygmy Mulga Monitor is flicking its tongue in order to 'taste' the air.
Pygmy Mulga Monitors eat insects and small lizards.
Pygmy Mulga Monitors flick their tongue to taste the air to find their food. They also use their senses of smell and sight.
To catch and eat their food Pygmy Mulga Monitors chase prey and catch it in their toothed jaws. Small prey is swallowed whole. They use their front teeth and claws to break apart large prey. The food is then swallowed.
Other monitors and birds of prey, such as eagles, eat Pygmy Mulga Monitors.
Pygmy Mulga Monitors walk and climb on all four legs.
They lay about three to seven eggs each breeding season. Young Pygmy Mulga Monitors look after themselves.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003
