-MANILA, Philippines — Researchers have concluded that a giant, golden-spotted monitor lizard discovered in the forested mountains of the Philippines six years ago is a new species, according to a study released Wednesday.

The 6.5-foot lizard was first spotted in 2004 in the Sierra Madre mountains on the island of Luzon when local researchers saw local Agta tribesmen carrying one of the dead reptiles.

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A golden-spotted monitor lizard was first found in the Sierra Madre mountains in the Philippines in 2004.
A golden-spotted monitor lizard was first found in the Sierra Madre mountains in the Philippines in 2004. The Associated Press

With the help of DNA testing, researchers determined it was a new species that was closely related to another monitor lizard on the same island about 90 miles away.

“I knew as soon as I saw the animal that it was something special,” Luke Welton, a graduate student at the University of Kansas and one of the co-authors of the study, said.

 

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