In captivity, tree monitors demonstrate the capacity to play, in the form of destructive behaviour such as systematically shredding the leaves on plants with teeth and claws.

The green tree monitor has even been purportedly sighted on the Cape York Peninsula on multiple instances, which if true would make it sympatric with the canopy goanna.

[11] The venom is an anticoagulant, and has two known mechanisms for disrupting blood clotting: by fibrinogenolysis (the destructive cleavage of fibrinogen) and by blocking platelet aggregation.

Monitor lizard venom is extremely complex and diverse due to the great range of ecological niches that they occupy.

This may be because arboreal monitor species experience strong selection pressure to quickly subjugate prey items before they break free and escape by falling out of the trees or flying away.

[12] It is suggested that higher prey escape potential may cause increased venom potency, as the lethally toxic eastern green mamba and boomslang are also arboreal.