A rare lizard, the black water monitor (Varanus salvator komaini), in the Helsinki Tropicario, has laid eggs.
This is considered a landmark event, because the Southeast Asian species is known to have reproduced in captivity only twice before – in 2007 and 2008 in Costa Rica.
Staff at the Tropicario believe that at least two of the eggs will hatch. The eggs have been put in an incubation box. The incubation time is expected to take between eight and ten months.
The black water monitor is native to the southwest border between Thailand and Malaysia. The three that live in the Tropicario are the only ones that exist in European zoos.