Where’s King Kong when you need him?
Video captured from a supermarket in Thailand shows a beefy-looking monitor lizard causing havoc inside the store, in a moment that has been watched millions of times online.
The video shows a roughly 1.8-metre-long water monitor clambering up a tall shelf of products in the corner of the store, while seemingly unfazed by the panicked customers or falling merchandise around it.
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The giant lizard reaches the top and then seems to pause and enjoy the warmth coming from the neon lights overhead.
A monitor lizard …. looking for food
restaurants and street food stands being closed has possibly reduced the amount of scraps that the reptiles can forage forcing them into urban areas to look for food pic.twitter.com/ELj7xWAqeW
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) April 7, 2021
The nearly one-minute-long video was recorded by a customer in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, according to Viral Press, which licensed the clip.
Witnesses told the Daily Mail that the incident happened on Tuesday. No one was hurt and the lizard did not take any food, they said.
The witness who filmed the video later paused to take a selfie with the creature in the background.
Jejene Narumpa poses in front of a giant lizard in a supermarket in Thailand, in this image posted online April 6, 2021.
Jejene Narumpa/Facebook
The exact species of the monitor is unknown, but Asian water monitors are known to be widespread in Thailand.
Some say the animals are a sign of good luck, according to the Bangkok Post, but the Thai word for them, hia, also doubles as a curse word.
Monitors are among the largest lizards in the world and can weigh more than 100 pounds. They prey on small animals and carrion and generally avoid humans, although they’ve been known to deliver a nasty, bacteria-filled bite when threatened.
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Social media users were eager to sink their teeth into the wayward lizard clip. Many compared the monitor’s rampage to the antics of the titular lizard in Godzilla vs. Kong, the recently released monster-brawler flick from Warner Bros.
“New Godzilla movie sucks,” one user wrote. “Thought there was a monkey fight?”
“I think I got a bootleg copy of Godzilla vs. Kong,” another tweeted.
Others were quick to crack jokes about the scaly suspect and its shelf-scaling antics.
“He is monitoring the inventory,” one user quipped.
A shop assistant reported the animal to police and handlers later showed up to tranquillize it and return it to the wild, according to Viral Press.
