Yellow Monitor lizard Territorial fight.
THE TERRITORIAL FIGHT
It was Just to Dusk.
Me & Pritam ( my co-birder) were in search of Painted Snipes since afternoon but on getting no trace of it,I reluctantly sat down in the middle of open grassland & started Enjoying Nature.
This is the season of Monsoon & I was busy in watching the Dark Clouds moving here & there above us in a backdrop of setting Sun.
I was enjoying this at its full & as much as i could see it was only the GREENERY of the Grassland & Wetlands.There was no one except us & few farmers in their field packing up for home.
Now a days I don't regret on not getting a good Frame of any species after tiring search,rather I enjoy the search,staying near to its habitat the field,grassland & forest seeing lots of other birds & animals this gives me Pleasure,So everyday I try to get some time out of Hustle-Tusle of busy life & visit some place where I could spend some time closely with nature,thus Photography has now been Secondary to me.
But my co-birder was a bit Upset ,he said to me 'dada you stay here & enjoy the view let me continue the search',thus he went on, I was sitting enjoying the Dusk & clicking a few shots of this Landscape.
Suddenly after a few minutes i heard his call, 'Dada come here quickly'.Hearing this sound the farmers in the field looked for a glance & again got busy with their work.
Pritam was a bit far from me,So I thought 'shall I go?, I may not get time to see & the bird will fly,it will be a waste of time lets enjoy the Sunset'.
I was thinking all these as then I got the 2nd call, 'Dada please come quickly with the Camera'.Now I was Sure something Special & different from my thought was waiting for me. I quickly ran with my Camera forgetting everything,put my bag & shoe in a dry place. Now I have to put my feets in a marshy land with mud & water logged in,I could not see even what was beneath my feet.
On reaching by his side he quickly pointed at the disturbance in the water just 3-4 metres in ahead of us.
Standing in water logged field what I could see was two monitor lizard of Golden Yellow color was trampling in front of us.Later we discovered it to be Yellow Monitor Lizard ,Earlier many a times I saw Monitor lizard in this area but they are so Shy that I could even took my camera to shoot them,they just ran into the bushes.
They generally try to stay away from humans & this was even logical because they are been hunted for their skin & meat,In this place also their hunting is reported.People also think them to be venomous & pose threat thus being killed,This all has lead down their population to decline & pushing them to verge of Extinction,Loss of the Wetlands leading to their habitat loss is also a reason though.
Let's back to our story,We both were thinking that this is an act of Mating,but on moving a bit closer & seeing through viewfinder it was clear that this a Tussle between two Adult Males for Territory.
As I have mentioned above generally they are very Shy but this time I was very amazed to see they were least bothered by our Presence.Getting such a Opportunity is very rare so without wasting more time we started pressing shutter to capture those moments.
Their way of Fighting is quite Similar to our style of 'Kusti'(type of wrestling).
Using both upper limbs they try to grab each other then put down in water,one getting on another & try to drown the other in water,whipping using tail etc,we were witnessing all the way how they fight.
After taking a few shots I thought this moment is very special & rare & we are lucky to witness this.So I decided to record video clips but it was not easy to do, as I did't have a tripod with me.
I therefore asked Pritam to lend his Shoulder so that I can give a support to lens & make the video
As the saying goes he gave his shoulders to support the lens & I went on recording as much as Steady I could.
We don't know from when they started their fight but we witnessed it for more than 30 minutes.
This was a one-sided fight & the opponent had lost the battle far before being weak,but the stronger one didn't let him leave the ground as if 'I will teach you a lesson today never to mess with me in future'
For a glance this thought also came in our mind lets Stop the Fight or else the weaker monitor being repeated drowned & beaten up may die,We feel as if the the weaker monitor asking for help & feel pity as if some human such rudely beaten up 'shall we not have helped?
But then only it came in our mind,NO.
This is Nature & Nature have its own rules So we didn't Interfere.
The backdrop of dusk,black clouds in sky & call of Lapwings, pratincoles,in background was creating a Unique Moment.
Finally the fight came to an end & the loser had to leave the ground,The winner stayed there for few more minutes as if rejoicing his Victory.
Sun has already set down & few drops of pour has also started,Taking such a treasure in our camera & most importantly in Grey Matter we headed towards our home.
DIPANKAR BAKSHI, India, KOLKATA
