Carved Wood Duck-Billed CrocoLizard??!

I groan every time a consignor pulls out carved wood piece. Although they are interesting, they are a huge challenge for me. People all over Earth carve wood, and pieces are rarely identified. It takes people with specific knowledge of wood, ethnic groups, and styles - people such as we tend to find HERE!
So, here are pictures of one of two pieces laid on me last week. (I may post about the other one later.) The consignor has high hopes for this one - but without very encouraging SPECIFIC information, my expectations don't come anywhere close to his...
Anyway - this piece is 25" long, measured directly from tip to tail. It has a flat "foot" such as you might expect it to stand on, but it will NOT stand on its own on a hard, flat surface. The balance and the placement of the "foot" are both wrong. It will stand one way with the tail leaning against a wall on one side, or slightly leaning to the other side. If on a soft surface, it could be pressed into place so as to stand straight.

 

I haven't seen this lizard carving before, but the kind of wood looks Filipino to me.
I could be way off.
It looks like he is sticking out his tongue btw, not duck-billed.

 

Also looks like carver worked with the natural shape of a small branch & the 'foot' is where nature put it, not where the carver would have preferred.

 

My best uneducated guess was also Indonesian/Polynesian regions.
...
Yes, tongue out, but mouth kinda duck-bill shaped, too.

 

I agree.

 

Any possibility the mouth is that wide to accommodate a tongue that big & the tongue is that big because this is functional as well as decorative, or takes its design from something functional, maybe for serving food?

 

Or maybe after a folk tale of a lizard with a big appetite and a big tongue?

 

Not the same but some features similar. They call it Oceanic Easter Island carving.

https://www.auctionzip.com/auction-...=azemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alerts

 

Moko Miro from Easter Island maybe?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/old-lizard-figure-moko-miro-easter-island

 

the ridges on the back seem to point that way....... nice sleuthing SIS !!!!