Who is Biawak?
Biawak is the common name for "Monitor Lizards" (of the genus Varanus) in Bahasa Indonesia (our National language).
I am not a live reptile exporter at the moment.
Most of the information included in this Personal Home Page are the results of more than 8 years of work. The page will grow, slowly! In the beginning it may be completely disorganized but it will get better later. I founded a company back in 1988 (CV. Terraria Indonesia) which started a whole revolution in Indonesia. Before 1988, most hobbyists wouldn't be able to find most of the Indonesian reptiles in the pet market. We came up with so many species for the trade, such as the Sulawesi Forest Turtle (Geoemyda yuwonoi), Savu pythons (Liasis macklotti savuensis), Bluetail Monitors (Varanus doreanus/kalabeck), Tanimbar pythons (an unnamed variety of Morelia amethistina), Irian and Tanimbar Blue-tongued skinks (Tiliqua scincoides ssp.), Tribolonotus spp., Gekko vittatus, etc. In 1994 we started a whole new trend of importing reptiles into Indonesia. The start of the iguana craze in Southeast Asia! After October of 1996, although I still own half of it, I have nothing to do with the operational aspects of this company anymore. I may go back to doing reptiles again but right now I'm having fun with my work with marine invertebrates.
I graduated high school from SMA Bunda Hati Kudus in 1976. Then I went on to study biology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. After a brief stint in LMU's Graduate School of Environmental Science I went to The Graduate School of Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I have three precious daughters: Jessica (now studying in Perth, WA), Xandra and Shannon from a marriage that ended in 1996. My wife Liana and I got married on 12 October, 1997! From Liana now I have a new daughter, Vicky and two sons Nick and Daniel.
My hobbies include Amateur Radio (my callsign is YC0UVO), photography, reading, collecting comic books, music, movies, computers, travelling, plastic modelling and so on (too many hobbies!). I also like military aircraft and fighting vehicles, especially those used in Indonesia and/or used during World War II.
So what am I doing these days? On top of trying to earn a living (I'm busy with the new experiments in propagation of marine organisms), I'm also trying to learn more about the internet and design my pages..! I'm still doing a little bit of exploring and herp breeding (currently Varanus spp., Chelodina parkeri, Indotestudo forsteni etc.).
Frank B. Yuwono
Need to know more? Mail me at
biawak_99@yahoo.com
To see my other interests, go to these links:
Travel pages
Photography (caution: slow page) Mostly of birds and airplanes
YC0UVO's Indonesian VHF Amateur Radio Page
Bibliography:
YUWONO, F. BAMBANG. 1994. Pengusahaan Satwa Reptilia di Indonesia. Prosiding Diskusi Panel: Sumber Daya Hewani dan Prospek Pendayagunaan dan pelestariannya. Balitbang Zoologi, Puslitbang Biologi-LIPI. Page:53-58
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ver. 24 Aug 1997