(Salvator Merianae)

Size: 3′

Touching Permitted. No Holding.

The Argentine black and white tegu, also called commonly the Argentine giant tegu, the black and white tegu, and the huge tegu, is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae. The species is the largest of the “tegu lizards”. It is an omnivorous species which inhabits the tropical rain forests, savannas, and semi-deserts of eastern and central South America.

Tegus have unusually high intelligence and can also be house-broken. Like other reptiles, tegus go into brumation in autumn when the temperature drops. They exhibit a high level of activity during their wakeful period of the year.

Tegus fill ecological niches similar to those of monitor lizards, and are an example of convergent evolution.

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