‘Biawak needs a natural environment to grow’

KOTA KINABALU: Although found in abundance across Borneo, the hardy monitor lizards, popularly known to Malaysians as biawak, need a stable forest environment for them to harness their full biological functions.

Scientists studying the biawak living within the Kinabatangan flood plains and around oil palm plantations found that biological functions of these monitor lizards were fully fulfilled when they were within natural forest habitats.