Varanus eremius
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The rusty desert monitor (Varanus eremius) is a species of small monitor lizards native to Australia. It is also known as the pygmy desert monitor. The monitor lizard belongs to the subgenus Odatria along with the pygmy mulga monitor. This monitor lizard is oviparous as with other monitor lizards.
A description of the species was presented to the Royal Society of Victoria in 1895 by Arthur H. S. Lucas and Charles Frost. Varanus eremius is the most widespread of the pygmy goannas. It lives in desert and semidesert areas of South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. Its range possibly includes Queensland, as well.; Storr & Harold 1980).
The rusty desert monitor reaches a total length of about 50 cm. The colouration of this monitor lizard on the upper side is light to dark reddish-brown with numerous, irregularly distributed, black or deep-brown spots. Sometimes, smaller primrose or cream-colored spots are present. Its tail shows alternating cream-colored and deep-brown longitudinal stripes, which are often broken up into scattered spots at the tail base. A conspicuous black stripe occurs from the snout to the eye... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Rusty Desert Monitor sighting in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 14th most-seen of the 25 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Rusty Desert Monitor in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, June–August, October and December–January, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rusty Desert Monitor sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, in our data
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Rusty Desert Monitor sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Varanus
The closest relatives of the Rusty Desert Monitor that you can see in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (genus Varanus, Monitor Lizards) are Gould's Goanna (about 50%), Perentie (about 30%) and Black-headed Monitor (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rusty Desert Monitor is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
