The proverbial head in the sand

About two months ago, my neighbour on the left alerted me to the presence of a monitor lizard roaming freely about in the drains. "It's about four feet long," she gasped excitedly as she hurriedly closed the gate behind her. Whether or not that was an exaggeration of the lizard's length, having one running around can be pretty alarming.

Then there was the time, also within the two-month time frame, that my wife saw a monitor lizard - could it be the same one? - sliding through a horizontal gap in the gate of my neighbour on the right into their compound. This neighbour wasn't it but thankfully enough, their front door was closed.

Thankfully, my gate bears a different design from both my neighbours. It still has gaps but they are narrow and quite impossible for a monitor lizard of that size to crawl through, not with its splayed-out legs. Nevertheless, we weren't taking any chances at all and we ensured that as long as nobody is in the house, our front metal grille door will always be shut. For good measure, whenever we are out of the house, the wooden front door will be closed too.

A week ago, my neighbour told me excitedly that the monitor lizard had returned. It wasn't crawling about the drain but had climbed some two or three feet out of the drain and was trying to hide itself beneath a rock. She pointed to a rock some 10 feet away and there, I saw the hind legs and the long tail of the animal. It's front legs and head were hidden beneath the rock. It's belly looked extended. Could it be looking for a safe place to lay its eggs? Or momentarily just trying to hide itself away from danger?

Quite a comical situation, I was also thinking to myself. If the creature was trying to hide, this was akin to the proverbial ostrich hiding its head in the sand and thinking that if it couldn't see danger, then there was no danger around at all. Same with this monitor lizard. It must have felt that by hiding its head and fore limbs beneath the rock, it was safe from danger not knowing that its body, back limbs and tail were all exposed for predators to attack. But if it was pregnant, then it was a different matter....

I was also wondering whether or not this could be the same monitor lizard that I had noticed scrambling along drains in other parts of the neighbourhood. Or could there possibly be many of these creatures lurking everywhere? Usually, they are quite shy of humans and would run away rather than confront us. They are quite fast runners. The one that I saw simply dashed away in the drain in double quick time when it saw me approaching.

But I also remember the occasion when I was last in Langkawi in the mid-2000s. Walking out of the hotel and turning out to the main road, I was confronted by the sight of a huge monitor lizard, this one estimated at maybe five or six feet, sitting calming on the grass verge. Not more than 10 feet from me. I stopped in my track. I looked at it. It looked at me with its forked tongue. Thoughts raced through my mind. Should I go straight and walk pass it? Would it attack me if I tried? Um, on second thoughts, no. I backed off down the road, crossed over to the other side and continued on my way. Better not take any chance on it. Thinking back, it was a good and prudent decision.