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  1. #1
    Banned Muadib's Avatar
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    Alligator-size lizards invade Bangkok park

    Alligator-size lizards invade Bangkok park

    Follow link for video...

    Alligator-size lizards invade Bangkok park | NECN

    (NECN: Bangkok) - Lumpini Park, a 200-acre escape from the city's frantic pace, enjoyed by Thais and foreign tourists alike, has an unlikely visitor -- alligator-sized lizards.

    Joggers, walkers and those just simply enjoying the grounds do not seem to mind sharing with these huge reptiles who freely roam the park premises.

    At the park's busiest times, water monitor lizards glide through the water behind group aerobics sessions, sit only meters away from nearby readers, and keep pace with the sweating joggers.

    Some park-goers shoo away the water monitors, a species that can grow up to 3.5 meters (11.4 feet) long, while others photograph or feed them.

    Bangkok resident Wichuda Jantawan said that "from another perspective, they're quite cute."

    Lumpini Park lacks a dedicated lizard wrangler, but officials estimate that 100 to 200 clawed creatures call the park home.

    The well-stocked fish pond and lack of predators means the reptiles are thriving.

    These cousins of the Komodo dragon may draw more visitors to the park than they scare away.
    Give a man a match, and he'll be warm for a minute, but set him on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

  2. #2
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muadib View Post
    These cousins of the Komodo dragon may draw more visitors to the park than they scare away.

    They have been there for years and have never posed any threat to me or the girlfriend while in the park,.even while rowing next to them. I’ll even tease the girlfriend at times and try to slip up to them while rowing to get a jolt out of her (she’s thinks they are gross). They are harmless, but they do look frightening to some.
    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

  3. #3
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    i thought these were the lizards that thai people (superstitiously) fear, hate and absolutely loath.

    must be another lizard i am thinking of

  4. #4

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    ^One and the same.

    Only reason they are still there is that Thai people don't eat them

  5. #5
    DaffyDuck
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    They have been there for years and have never posed any threat to me or the girlfriend while in the park,.even while rowing next to them. I’ll even tease the girlfriend at times and try to slip up to them while rowing to get a jolt out of her (she’s thinks they are gross). They are harmless, but they do look frightening to some.
    Until they eat your baby!

  6. #6
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    They are one of the few critters that will tackle Bangkok's rats. You see them in smaller parks, too- I've spotted younger ones in Benjasiri park next to Emporium. They are no danger to people.

  7. #7
    splendid and tremendous
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    Quote Originally Posted by dirtydog
    Only reason they are still there is that Thai people don't eat them
    Maybe not in the cities but I've never seen a Thai move so fast chasing after one of them for his dinner, he got it as well, straight into the pot.

  8. #8
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    In all my time here I have never seen a Thai eat one of these big lizards. Hell, it might happen I just have never seen any such feast yet.

    Here is a pic of a lizard that the locals shot with a 10-gauge shotgun when the beast started eating the local livestock. Trust me, these ladies will eat almost anything and what did they do with the lizard? Threw it into the Nan River.


  9. #9
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    JoGeAr's Avatar
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    Ai-Hea !!

  10. #10
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    Same same, and I have two living in the klong behind my house. One is a biggie. We have a wall and a fence. But I can tell ya in Don Muang they are not considered friendly. At the same time people will stop their cars and let it pass the double lane road with bougainvilleas in the middle.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muadib
    Bangkok resident Wichuda Jantawan said that "from another perspective, they're quite cute."
    Mrs Jantawan is married to a British national . . .

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat
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    Nice...

  13. #13
    splendid and tremendous
    somtamslap's Avatar
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    They can definetly take care of themselves in their natural habitat. I was lucky enough to see one take a large python's head clean off during a scrap.

  14. #14
    Eric
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    Quote Originally Posted by dirtydog
    Only reason they are still there is that Thai people don't eat them
    The only thing they don't eat that has legs is the table.

    I saw one of these up in the sticks and they were going to make a nice curry with it

  15. #15
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    yup, been there for years.

    old news

    I've seen quite a few in the klongs too, soi 10 sukhumvit.

  16. #16
    Banned Muadib's Avatar
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    Not sure how I've missed them, as many times as I've strolled through Lumpini Park...

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by dirtydog View Post
    ^One and the same.

    Only reason they are still there is that Thai people don't eat them

    seems to be some disagreement over that DD

    are there two types that are getting confused?

    what is the reason for not eating them? even my wife has no idea

  18. #18
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    Missed them too...next time...a hunting I will go.

  19. #19

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    ^^I assume it has something to do with the bad luck they are supposed to bring, never known my staff to eat them and they eat anything.






  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by dirtydog
    I assume it has something to do with the bad luck they are supposed to bring, never known my staff to eat them and they eat anything.
    yeah, she said no-one in the village eats them

    no idea why though

  21. #21
    On a walkabout Loy Toy's Avatar
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    I love wild life and we had one in the Klong adjacent to my house in Pattaya.

    The dogs were giving it grief so it disappeared after a few days never to be seen again.

    The only thing that worried me at the time was whether it would corner and bite one of the kids and I was afraid the bite was the same as the Komodo Dragon's.

    These creatures certainly look very similar!

    Komodo dragon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  22. #22
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muadib View Post
    Not sure how I've missed them, as many times as I've strolled through Lumpini Park...
    Here are a few pictures of some of Lumpini’s Lizards, that I took (they must be old photos because the camera we have been using for the past three years has a time/date stamp and these pictures don’t have that stamp). The girlfriend wanted her picture taken on some platform out in one of the lakes while we were rowing around one day and we had to get one of these lizards to move. We pulled up and she got onto the platform and the lizard moved. Again,.I believe they are harmless. But however harmless (and docile) the lizards seem to be I would never leave a child unattended in their vicinity. Ya can’t miss them,………….there are so many of them in the park (waters edge or in the water).




































    Strange observation,...............there are no ducks in this park


    Last edited by S Landreth; 28-08-2009 at 05:51 AM.

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