Which is longer? v. salvator or komodos?

[Kohm]

Just out of curiousity ...

I've heard some herping friends and read somewhere (not a necessarily reliable source) that v. salvator grows to past 4m, longer than the komodo. Just like how the rectic is longer than annies or burms, but is much more slender. Is there truth in that? Thot I should ask the experts here.
[addsig]

It is the longest monitor, just as you alluded to the retic vs anaconda comparison...I dunno about in excess of 4m though...

over 12 feet though
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[Kohm]

Riley, this is getting more complicated...

v. salvador and v. salvator both may be longer than the komodo. The one I meant was v. salvator, the malayan water monitor, which occurs all over southeast asia. The link is v. salvador, the crocodile monitor. The pic doesn't look at all like a salvator, so I think we've got 2 different species here.

Is the longest monitor salvador or salvator? Why are their names so alike?

Thanks anyway, I think we've got a puzzle here.
[addsig]

Sorry, my bad...my brain saw salvador...The Croc is definitely the Retic of the monitor world...

The salvator only gets about 3 meters...roughly a hair under 10' feet...
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[Kohm]

Thanx Riley,

My guidebook says that the salvator is exceptionally 321cm, but usually under 3m. The komodo ought to max above that. I was rummaging around the library, checked the Guiness Book of Animal Records that says the Croc is the longest. There isn't much on them though, but they look really cool monitors.
[addsig]

Crocs are cool, until one bites you. They call them crocodile monitors (and tree crocodiles) for a reason, their dentition - those teeth are serrated and designed for ripping off large chunks of flesh. Plus the teeth themselves are huge, and crocs have huge heads and lots of power to those jaws...

They are one of the few monitors that could really do some permenant nerve/tissue damage with their bite and, yes, kill you.
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[Kohm]

In that sense, cool nonetheless. It seems quite weird that an arboreal monitor should have such a long tail. There's power in that head, the size of the jaws alone is apparent from the shape of the skull. You're right,probably only the croc and the komodo have killing power. Most other large monitors like salvator and the perentie still have pretty small jaws.
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	Arboreal Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.<br> In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or bushes.