Singapore has otters, New York City has beavers… while Kuala Lumpur? We have monitor lizards!
Photo via TikTok (@jckbarks)
We’ve always wondered why wild animals sometimes come into the city where humans live. Well, according to the Frontiers, it turns out cities can provide a lot of good food, shelter and protection for some wildlife.
These animals can actually live longer, have more babies and get more to eat than they would in other habitats. Interesting, huh?
Recently, a TikTok user, who was visiting KL shared a video, using an audio that said: “the rats don’t run this city, but we do…” which he then pointed his camera into a drain where two giant monitor lizards can be seen chilling.
The video has since garnered over 4 million views at the time of writing.
He also did a similar video in Melaka where there are smaller monitor lizards, roaming freely near the Melaka river.
Netizens, mostly who are not Malaysians, took to the comment section to share their amusement: “Why do you guys have dinosaurs in your city?”
“Yo, there are people in the world who just live with dragons?” another person commented.
Malaysians in the comment sections say that it’s normal to see monitor lizards in the city, and explained how they are not dangerous and are actually scared of humans, so they are harmless, “Biawak is very normal here. We see them in parking lots, in shopping malls, literally everywhere.”
“It’s normal for KL, especially during the rainy season. Hopefully they are okay down there,” said another person.
