320 
Auffenberg 
tether end, where it is placed 
on the ground and resumed 
eating viscera. 
9:^0:00 All goat muscular motion 
ceases. Monitor still eating 
viscera. 
In all cases it was obvious that an adult 
monitor was quite capable of killing an ani- 
mal approximately half its own weight. The 
goats were easily held down, dragged, and 
even carried. These prey were killed within 
21/^ to 4 minutes after the initial attack. 
Though the goats tried to remain on their 
feet (and were surprisingly quiet), they were 
thrown and held down, making it difficult for 
them to push or pull away with their feet. 
In some sequences the goat was violently 
shaken both laterally and vertically. This 
part of the attack pattern is evidently most 
important in immobilizing the prey. Death 
usually occurred as the result of massive 
hemorrhage associated with evisceration. 
A similar pattern occurs with prey as large 
as Bos bubcdis, the Asian water buffalo. In- 
dividuals weighing as much as 750 kg are 
known to have been attacked and killed, al- 
though most buffalo prey are much smaller. 
The technique first involves injuring the 
lower limbs. Severe lacerations often sever 
the tendons (including the Achilles tendon) 
and immobilize the prey (Fig. 12). This stage 
is followed by evisceration. Successful at- 
tacks against such large prey may last 20 
minutes or more. 
Another interesting facet of this monitor’s 
behavioral pattern is the manner in which 
wild, free-ranging deer (their most common 
large prey) are taken. Two different tactics 
are used : either stalking deer when asleep or, 
more commonly, lying in ambush. 
The local deer species (Rusa timorensis) 
is most closely related to the Asian sambar, 
with large stags weighing about 170 kg. 
Small herds of about one dozen individuals 
often feed on the open savanas during the 
predawn period. With the first light they 
begin to move toward nearby grassy hillsides. 
At this time of the morning, the monitors 
are not yet active and the deer move unmo- 
lested up the slopes. Here they usually remain 
on relatively flat-topped spurs above the for- 
ested valley floor, lying in the tall grass until 
some time between 0900 and 1100 hours. 
Then they move single file back down the 
slopes, following well-defined game trails into 
the wooded valleys below. The resident moni- 
tors apparently know the location of these 
major trails and often have trails of their 
own that lead to them. The adult monitors 
will lie in ambush, their heads within about 
1 m of the trail. Sometimes they select places 
where several trails converge (Fig. 13). 
It is under these conditions that most deer 
are attacked and brought down. Figure 14 
illustrates typical, successful deer hunts. Ex- 
cerpts from my field notebook for October 
31, 1969 provide information to accompany 
the figure : 
9:30 A.M. While going to the ‘second 
grass patch’ members of our 
group heard a dog barking and 
a crow calling from just inside 
the forest edge. On investigat- 
ing the disturbance we found 
three monitors tearing flesh 
from the thorax of an adult 
doe deer approximately 45 kg, 
killed so recently that the car- 
cass was still bleeding. . . . 
From signs nearby, the entire 
sequence was easily recon- 
structed. Five deer were known 
to remain on either the north 
or south spurs of Hill 23 every 
morning. Prior to 9 :30, the 
small herd moved down the 
slope to the small savanna and 
crossed it on a well-established 
deer trail. They then entered 
the forest near the junction of 
‘Sugito’s path’ and the ‘North- 
South trail.’ The ora must have 
lain in grass about 0.5 m high 
along the game trail (near the 
hollow dots of Fig. 14) for here 
we found much fresh blood and 
crushed grass. Prey and preda- 
tor must have continued the 
