SINGAPORE – The adorable “Bishan 10” family of otters may have become the face of Singapore wildlife, but now it looks as though monitor lizards are intent on giving them a run for their money.

On Thursday (Mar 9), a monitor lizard was caught on video taking a dip in a condo swimming pool.

The reptile seemed to be seeking shelter from the hot afternoon sun, as it also attempted to enter a resident’s unit.

Reader Paveena Kumar, 27, sent photos and videos of the incident to AsiaOne.

The public relations professional told AsiaOne that the scaly visitor was first spotted by her domestic helper in the balcony of her ground floor unit at her home in Yishun at about 4pm.

“It looked like it was trying to open the sliding door of our balcony to get into the house, and then jumped to the balcony of a neighbour’s unit before going into the swimming pool,” she recounted.

Read also: Monitor lizards sighted in bizarre places: Here’s where and why

Ms Paveena said that the fork-tongued creature spent about half an hour in the pool. It was eventually cornered and caught by a resident, who released it into the forested area near the condo.

She added that it was the first time that she could recall seeing a monitor lizard enter her condo.

This is the second monitor lizard to go swimming in less than a month. In February, another lizard that was filmed having a swim in the lazy pool at the Jurong East Swimming Complex.

Other than the two swimming incidents, the most famous monitor lizard sighting occurred last September, when one lizard decided to get a closer view of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix by streaking across the race track.

It caused Red Bull driver Max Verstappen to exclaim in shock: “There’s a giant lizard on the track!”

Mr Kalai Vanan, deputy chief executive of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), previously told AsiaOne that the organisation gets between 20 and 30 reports on monitor lizards in a month.

He added that these creatures are shy animals that are typically harmless, despite their large size.

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2016-04-22 18:58:13

Photo Gallery

Monstrous monitor lizard feasts on cat at Japanese Garden in Jurong East

Source: Stomp

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