A lizard has been given a new lease on life after being injured in a car crash.
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For the past six weeks, the spotted tree monitor (Varanus scalaris) was nursed back to health by the PAWS Community Vet Clinic in Darwin, where she had to be treated for a broken jaw and bleeding to her eye.
Veterinarian Dr Bec Webster said the monitor had to be fed via a tube during the ordeal.
"We placed a feeding tube in her, so we could feed her and keep her hydrated whilst her jaw bone healed," Dr Webster said.
"After six weeks of tube feeding and care, her jaw bone has healed and she is now eating on her own.
"Her eye has also cleared up and she can see well out of both eyes."
But it was an unexpected X-ray image that had the vet clinic excited.
"An X-ray revealed she was full of eggs," Dr Webster said.
"Whilst in our care, she laid a whopping 15 eggs which are currently being incubated."
Once fully recovered, the monitor will be released back into the wild.
Spotted tree monitors are commonly found in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, as well as the province of Papua in Indonesia and in Papua New Guinea.
The species inhabits trees in the savanna woodlands and forages for food in both trees and on the ground, with a diet consisting of insects as well as small vertebrates.