Photos,  Thai Society/Culture

Iguana skillet

I woke up today and stretched out on my balcony like I do every morning. The hybrid eucalyptus/native vegetation forest has grown to twice its height since I arrived here at the end of last year, and the native wildlife has really settled in. It’s nice to watch fireflies playing tag before I go to sleep and wake up to bird calls new to my ears. This morning I looked down on our cooking area and saw an iguana chilling out on my cast iron skillet (note: It might the same kind I photographed at my university a while back).
He cocked his head at me as I approached:

what up, foo?
This out-of-focus photo is the only one I took that shows his full tail length. Amazingly, he let me approach to within macro distance, so the other shots came out somewhat better:

(as always, click on photos to open a larger version in a pop-up)

3 Comments

  • yomama

    Nice lizard. What do the Thais think of lizards, iguanas and snakes?
    Any of those “good luck/bad luck” superstitions in their culture?
    Those big warty black ones that live in the canals look evil….I’m sure they carry more than salmonella!

  • AE

    Those black warty large lizards are likely water monitors, Varanus salvatore. While you should not fool with a wild one, they are in the US pet trade (dumb, I know) and luckily they can tolerate humans. Above link is a short video showing Pete, our pet water monitor, taking a swim in the pond.

  • Tom

    I had a pet iguana back in college. Thing grew to be huge.
    It used its tail to whip the shit out of my hands every time I reached into the cage to feed or clean it!
    Cool reptiles, though

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