The Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae), also called the Argentine giant tegu, the black and white tegu, the huge tegu, and the lagarto overo in Spanish[1] is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae. The species is the largest of the "tegu lizards".[4] It is an omnivorous species which inhabits the tropical rain forests, savannas and semi-deserts of eastern and central South America. Tegus are sometimes kept as pets. They are notable for their unusually high intelligence and can also be housebroken. Like other reptiles, tegus go into brumation in autumn when the temperature drops. They exhibit a high level of activity during their wakeful period of the year. Tegus fill ecological niches similar to those of monitor lizards, but are only distantly related to them; the similarities are an example of convergent evolution.