The various species of Varanus cover a vast area, occurring through Africa, the Asian subcontinent from India and Sri Lanka to China, down Southeast Asia to Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia and islands of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

The genus name, "Varanus" is derived from the Arabic word waral, which is translated to English as "monitor". It has been suggested that the occasional habit of varanids to stand on their two hind legs and to appear to "monitor" their surroundings led to the original Arabic name. According to legend, these lizards were supposed to warn people that crocodiles were nearby.

Varanid lizards are very intelligent, and some species can even count. Careful studies feeding V. albigularis at the San Diego Zoo varying numbers of snails showed that they can distinguish numbers up to six. V. niloticus have been observed to cooperate when foraging. One varanid lures the female crocodile away from her nest while the other opens the nest to feed on the eggs. The decoy then returns to also feed on the eggs.

Product Features:
The model is fully rigged for animation.
The product contains four resolutions of the model, which are textured.

This model is a 3DMax model, saved in version 7 as a MAX file, and requires 3DMax or Gmax to open the model. It does not include any other formats to allow it to be opened in any other software. The model is rigged where appropriate, and mapped and textured.