They Thought It Was a Gator. Then They Saw Its Tongue

A mother-daughter car ride in Florida’s Sarasota County led to quite a sighting last month. McClatchy News reports that Renee Aland was driving in the southwest city of North Port on May 20 when she did a “double take” at something she spotted along the side of the busy road: what looked to be an alligator, between 5 feet and 6 feet long. “It was seen coming out of the woods” behind a Kia dealership, where a canal was located, she posted on Facebook later that day, posting pics and a video of the strange animal.

“I look, and I see what I think is a gator,” Aland, who was driving with 15-year-old daughter Zoey Marzonie, tells NBC2. “When we got closer, I looked, and I saw his tongue… coming out, and I was like, ‘Oh crap, that’s not a gator.’” She added to McClatchy News that “I was a little taken aback at how many times it attempted to cross the street and turned around.” Her daughter added, per NBC2: “Have you heard of the show Jessie for Disney Channel? It was like that big lizard in Jessie.” As it turns out, Aland’s assessment that the animal wasn’t an alligator was correct: Local biologists say it’s some kind of monitor lizard, perhaps a Nile monitor but more likely an Asian water monitor.

Asian water monitors can reach up to 8 feet in length when fully grown, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The invasive species isn’t native to the Sunshine State, instead typically brought there by people involved in the exotic-pet trade. Those lizards that escape or are let loose then spread via Florida’s canal system. Florida Gulf Coast University biologist Andrew Durso says people generally don’t need to fear monitor lizards. “Even though they’re carnivorous, they’re not dangerous to people,” he tells NBC2. “They’re not going to chase you; they’re not going to attack you.” Anyone who spots a similar creature wandering around should report it here, per Durso. (More lizard stories.)