The air was redolent with the smell of decaying flesh for several days now. However, it was only today that I noticed two large soft-shelled turtles in the bay. My initial thought was great, turtles in the bay but something wasn't quite right. One looked to be bloated and floating lifeless in the water. The other looked to be still and not moving though it still had its natural color on it. It then dawned on me that one was dead and the other may be dying.
I passed the turtles again and this time I noticed a large Water Monitor Lizard swimming in the bay.
I knew that the lizard has smelt the smell of decaying flesh in the air. It headed in but to my surprise, it did not go towards the two turtles but further up the bay and onto dry land. I went huh? till it dragged another dead and bloated turtle into view. The lizard ripped the turtle open and filled the air with more bad smell. However, it was fascinating to watch the lizard doing what Nature had designed it to do keeping the environment clean. The smell brought another smaller lizard to the area but the silly fellow ignored the two floaters and went toward the larger lizard and its carrion only to be chased away.
The larger lizard whilst swimming back discovers the two floaters.
I have a lot of respect for this lizard as it dutifully went back to the first turtle and finished it off before disappearing out into open water.
A friend photographed another lizard, not sure if it was the same lizard, dinning on the floater. When I came back in the evening only one dead turtle was left. It was awesome to have witnessed the lizards at work and to see how efficient they are at keep the environment clean.
I passed the turtles again and this time I noticed a large Water Monitor Lizard swimming in the bay.
I knew that the lizard has smelt the smell of decaying flesh in the air. It headed in but to my surprise, it did not go towards the two turtles but further up the bay and onto dry land. I went huh? till it dragged another dead and bloated turtle into view. The lizard ripped the turtle open and filled the air with more bad smell. However, it was fascinating to watch the lizard doing what Nature had designed it to do keeping the environment clean. The smell brought another smaller lizard to the area but the silly fellow ignored the two floaters and went toward the larger lizard and its carrion only to be chased away.The larger lizard whilst swimming back discovers the two floaters.
I have a lot of respect for this lizard as it dutifully went back to the first turtle and finished it off before disappearing out into open water.
A friend photographed another lizard, not sure if it was the same lizard, dinning on the floater. When I came back in the evening only one dead turtle was left. It was awesome to have witnessed the lizards at work and to see how efficient they are at keep the environment clean.
9 comments:
This is rather sad...
Two uncommon turtles killed and eaten by a monitor...
Wish it had found two red eared sliders instead. That would leave those poor turtles alive.
Hi Shawn, the turtles were already dead for what ever reason. They weren't killed by the monitor lizard. The lizard's role in the larger scheme of things was to keep the environment clean, which is good.
That's sad...especially if it's pollution that killed the turtles. It's like having a fine animal survive into adulthood only to be become roadkill. I saw a pic somewhere of a beautiful twin barred snake squashed dead on the road within mandai zoo premises.
where was this? If it's at a nature reserve perhaps nparks should do something about this pollution issue?
I don't think it was pollution but natural causes as there would have been more dead turtles and fish if it were so. If it were PUB n not NParks should look into the matter. Hehehe.... I worked on a project before that involved inter-agencies before so I know. The deaths occured during the worse part of the dry spell we had here. Besides, we don't know how old these turtles were. At least, they went back into the food chain by providing food to the lizards.
On the other hand, roadkills are a sheer waste of healthy animals. The problem is we've encrouched into a lot of natural habitat so the mortalities are a fact of life too.
I photographed a blue-necked keelback last year in a drain by the road. Five days later, it was road kill.
Oh, noe after reading properly did I realsie that the turtles were already dead. But even if they were, I wish it was 2 red-eared sliders that were dead.
Anyway I didn't know about the Blue-Necked Keelback Roadkill. Pity such a beautiful snake, has to die for no reason.
Shawn, if it is any consolation. I've seen a monitor lizard eat a slider that was alive. In that situation I again had to defend the lizard as people around me wanted to know why the authorities allowed the lizard to live in the nature park. told them unlike humans, the lizards can't pay to have someone kill n dress their food for them. :-)
Blue-necked roadkill?!...that's a real shame. I feel privileged to have quite a few encounters with some pretty uncommon(at least to me) local snakes including blue malayan coral, black headed collared, twin barred and malayan brown. Yet not once have i chanced upon a blue-necked. That's really sad..
I once saw a tiny red-tailed racer by old thomson road. Seemed like it was going to to cross the road despite oncoming traffic. I had to stand in the middle and direct a truck away to prevent a roadkill. I thought animals are more sensitive yet strangely, it didn't sense the impending danger of the traffic. This is something i cannot understand...the vibration on the road should deter them from even coming near yet I see plenty of roadkill pictures. I was there at that moment, but I can't be there all the time to prevent other mishaps. I wonder how many precious creatures of our dwindling natural heritage have been lost this way?
Than I consider myself to be lucky to have seen the blue-necked twice. My most recent sighting was this Monday. If you did a search for snakes in my blog you’ll see most of the reptiles I’ve encountered. The only two that I have seen but have no pictures to show are the Blue Malayan Coral and the Twin Barred.
Snakes are cold blooded and roads will always attract them as the ground gives off heat. That’s the main reason for the high instances of roadkill. So what do you do to come across so many roadkill pictures? It would be nice to know who I’m conversing with too.
Very True to what 'anonymous' had said. So many animals are being driven to their deaths b'coz of roadkills.
When I went to India a few years back, there was a day when I encountered 2 roadkills:
A Baby Spectacled Cobra and a Baby Common Krait.
At the time I was not really into snakes, and didn't have any camera, so I've got no evidence to support tha fact.
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