A Remarkable Revelation - the story of our Fish 'Dracula' and a visiting Monitor Lizard

Hootoksi Tyabji, Shah Alam, 28 May 2024

It was an afternoon much the same as any other. Rob dozing in his chair after lunch and me reading in mine!

I heard the distinctive sound of Lizzy (all our resident Lizzards both big & small are called that!) lumbering down the hill, crunching leaves and trampling plants. 

I grabbed the phone & stealthy opened the sliding window to photograph her. She was small and was lumbering towards the edge of the pond. What I saw next was truly amazing!!

Dracula, our lone fish who eats any other fish we try and introduce him to, was curious and swam to Lizzy almost touching her nose!!

These two most unlikely “friends” were not in the least bit afraid of each other, quite the contrary. They checked each other out in a leisurely manner, then Dracula swam off and Lizzy gazed into the horizon before she lumbered back up the hill!

A truly unique encounter, I was so fortunate & thankful to have seen it!! 

PS: This encounter between two completely different animal species was a 'remarkable revelation' to us because we had attributed the disappearance of many of our fish to the occasional visits by monitor lizards.

A valuable lesson learned! - Robert