This is a walk-around of the older (and sadly, retired) colour version of the current
Safari Ltd Incredible Creatures "Emerald Green Monitor". The figure has a different item number (2587-29) than its green successor (2589-29). Total length of both figures is 710 mm if fully stretched out with a snout-vent length of 296 mm. Scale is 1:1 since it is obviously cast from a deceased specimen, albeit most likely a juvenile one instead of an adult of a smaller species (see below).
As I had mentioned on one or two occasions before, the dorsal swimming keel on the figure's tail does not exist in
Varanus prasinus, the species probably meant to be represented by the newer colour variant. I've read several people mentioning that it was originally a Nile Monitor,
Varanus niloticus. But was it really? First, while obviously not cast from an Emerald Green Monitor, it hasn't been cast from a Nile Monitor (or any other species of the subgenus
Polydaedalus) either. The nostrils are far too close to the tip of the snout, Nile Monitors have nostrils that are a little closer to the eye than to the snout tip. So what was it cast from then? My suggestion is that it was cast from a juvenile specimen of the
Asian Water Monitor complex,
Varanus salvator and its closest relatives (i.e. subgenus
Soterosaurus, except for those species with enlarged nuchal scales since the figure doesn't have them). These look superficially similar to Nile Monitors but have their nostrils much more forward. They can even get bigger,
V. salvator salvator may reach 3 m total length.
On the other hand the colour pattern, especially that of the neck, looks indeed more like that of a juvenile Nile Monitor (even though some
Varanus salvator may look similar, too).
Second, the figure is not stamped "Nile Monitor" but simply "MONITOR" underneath (just like it is the case on the belly of the current "Emerald Green Monitor" which is also stamped "MONITOR"). So, can anybody who has an old catalogue (or the figure's tag) confirm that Safari Ltd officially named this a Nile Monitor? I'll edit the thread title if it is indeed the official name but for the moment I'll stick with the name stamped to the belly.
Apart from that I'm really impressed by the paint job on this figure, even despite numerous paint rubs it still looks good. The last photo shows a side-by-side comparison of both colour versions of the same "sculpt".
Edit 2017-02-07: Fixed broken image urls.
