The short-tailed monitor is the smallest of the Varanid lizards, attaining a maximum adult length of only 8 inches. The body color is usually a drab olive to brown color with lighter ocelli on the trunk. The short-tailed monitor is strictly carnivorous. Unlike most lizards, monitors are active foragers with a very high metabolic rate.
Monitors use their long forked tongue much like a snake to pick up chemical cues in the air.
However, any prey item that has a chance of fitting in the monitor's throat will be actively pursued and consumed. The monitor is able to eat such large prey because it utilizes a technique for feeding called mesokinesis. The short-tailed monitor is oviparous. Short-tailed monitors exhibit internal fertilization. The male has paired intromittent organs known as hemipenes.