Little Ray’s missing Nile monitor lizard has been found — in the zoo

All hail Markhor, perhaps the greatest hide-and-seeker of all time.

Little Ray's Reptile Zoo and Nature Centre's missing" Nile monitor lizard was in the zoo all along.

Kevin Dungey, director at Little Ray's, took to Facebook on Friday morning to deliver the good, but embarrassing" news.

The lizard was thought to have escaped the confines of the zoo on June 19, and presumably, was living somewhere in the east end - or Lake Ontario.

Hamiltonians were quick to jump in and help look for the three-foot long reptile, but to no avail.

In the Facebook video, Dungey reveals he spent three days searching high and low within the zoo for Markhor. So where was he hiding?

Amanda Steen, head curator and general manager of the zoo, had been hearing scratches occasionally near the front reception desk. A small gap approximately three inches long can be seen in the video at the base of the desk, where a piece of plywood meets it - just big enough for the juvenile Nile monitor to slip into.

Markhor spent the last two months in the hideaway, only reappearing Thursday, likely because he's hungry.

Going without food for that long, Dungey says, is not really that dangerous to his health."

He's as feisty as ever."

More to come.

Delaney Caulfield is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach her via email: dcaulfield@thespec.com