PRAGUE, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Prague Zoo celebrates the birth of an earless monitor lizard (Latin name Lanthanotus borneensis), one of the rarest and least studied reptiles in the world, as said on Monday in a zoo's press statement.
According to the details, the first baby lizard hatched on Sunday, and there are at least three more eggs laid at the nesting spot, so the offspring should appear in the coming days.
"This is an extremely rare endemic reptile species, which was born in captivity for the first time in Japan in 2014; now, after two years of breeding, we succeeded in Prague," said in the press release.
Petr Velensky, curator of reptile breeding at Prague Zoo, informed that the first baby of earless monitor lizard weighs 4.1 grams and is 14 cm long.
"The incubation period was 84 days, and all the time we had to keep the night temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and day temperature of 28 degrees, which was not easy at all this summer," Velensky was quoted as saying.
Earless monitor lizard is mostly found on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo. Due to the very limited knowledge about this animal, its behavior is not well studied.
Its typical habitat is underground shelters in the water, and they climb out onto the surface quite rarely. The lizard is active at night when hunting.
Only few experts had ever had the opportunity to see this valuable reptile in the wild nature, so its way of life has been a mystery for decades.
According to the zoologists, the future of the lizard in the wild is uncertain as rain forests are being destroyed.
"This is the reason why Prague Zoo has decided to participate in the creation of a European breeding program, which would develop in captivity the population of these unique creatures," said the press release.
