LIZARD

LIZARD

A reptile that typically has a long body and tail, four legs, movable eyelids, and a rough, scaly, or spiny skin.

Lizard, (suborder Sauria), any of more than 5,500 species of reptiles  belonging in the order Squamata  (which also includes snakes, suborder Serpentes). Lizards are scaly-skinned reptiles that are usually distinguished from snakes by the possession of legs, movable eyelids, and external ear openings. However, some traditional (that is, non-snake) lizards lack one or more of these features.

For example, limb degeneration and loss has occurred in glass lizards (Ophisaurus) and other lizard groups. Movable eyelids have been lost in some geckos, skinks, and night lizards. External ear openings have disappeared in some species in the genera Holbrookia and Cophosaurus. Most of the living species of lizards inhabit warm regions, but some are found near the Arctic Circle in Eurasia and others range to the southern tip of South America.



Do house lizards bite humans?

These small geckos are non-venomous and not deadly to humans. Medium to large geckos may bite if distressed; however, their bite is gentle and will not pierce skin. A tropical gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus thrives in warm, humid areas where it can  crawl around on rotting wood in search of the insects it eats.

Small lizards are harmless, and, in fact, rather cute. They also eat bugs. ... Of the non-venomous lizards the only that are potentially harmful to humans would be dangerous only due to bite strength and any lizard that large isn't going to be well hidden in your room.


Mobility

All lizards are capable of swimming, and a few are quite comfortable in aquatic environments. Many are also good climbers and fast sprinters. Some can even run on two legs, such as the Collared Lizard and the Spiny-Tailed Iguana.


Physical Characteristics

Some lizards change color in response to their surroundings or in times of stress. The most well-known example is the chameleon.  More subtle color changes occur in other lizard species as well, such as the Anole, also known as the "American Chameleon," and "House Chameleon" or "Chamele."


Limb Regeneration

Many lizards are capable of regeneration of lost tails. To confuse a predator, they will deliberately drop portions of their tails when grabbed; as the tail continues to wiggle and flop with “life,” the lizard gets the chance to escape.


Diet

Lizards feed on a wide variety of foods including fruits and vegetation, insects, small mammals, birds, and amphibians, carrion and even (in the cases of large predator lizards) large prey such as deer and other big animals.


Venomous Varieties

Only three lizard species are clinically venomous: the Komodo Dragon, Mexican Beaded Lizard, and the Gila Monster.

Beaded Lizards are found along the western coast of Mexico and the Gila Monster in southwestern US into northern Mexico. Even though myths and legends surround these two creatures because their bite can cause serious injury, no human fatalities have ever been reliably recorded.

 Recent research has also shown that Komodo Dragons are in fact venomous. This large species of lizard can be found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Padar.


Size

Lizards generally have small heads, long bodies and long tails. With so many species of lizard, it's understandable that they come in a wide variety of sizes. The largest lizard is the Komodo dragon. It grows up to 10 feet (3 meters) long and weighs up to 176 lbs. (80 kilograms). The smallest lizard is the tiny dwarf gecko, which grows to 0.6 inches (1.6 centimeters) long and weighs .0042 ounces (120 milligrams).


Offspring

Many lizards lay eggs while others bear live young. For example, frilled lizards lay eight to 23 eggs, according to National Geographic, while some skinks have live young. The gestation for a lizard egg can last up to 12 months.

Most baby lizards are self-sufficient from birth and are able to walk, run and feed on their own. The young reach maturity at 18 months to 7 years, depending on the species. Some lizards can live up to 50 years.


Other facts

Frill neck lizards have a large, round collar of skin that pops up when they are trying to intimidate attackers.

The green basilisk lizard can run on water at about 5 feet (1.5 m) per second for 15 feet (4.5 m), or more according to National Geographic. Their special feet give them more surface area to hold them up and as they run, they create air bubbles that keep them afloat.

Chameleons' tongues are longer than their bodies, and their eyes can look in two different directions at once.

You can shine a light in a banded gecko's ear and the light will come out the other side, according to the American Museum of Natural History.

Two species — the Mexican beaded lizard of western Mexico and the Gila monster of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, are venomous, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Surprising Lizard Facts

1. There are about 6263 species of lizards in this world. Out of the 6263 species, only two species are venomous. They are Gila monster (Heloderma sucpectum) and the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum). Their venom is not so powerful to kill a human being but it causes acute pain.

2. They are present everywhere except the continent Antarctica. They can be as small as 1.6 cm to as long as 11 feet. Some lizard species can weigh up to 166 kg (weight and length of the lizard varies with the species). Depending on the species, they may live anywhere from one year to 30 years.

3. There are few species of lizards who look similar to the snakes because their legs are so small that they are not visible or they don’t have legs at all. So, people often mistake these lizards to be snakes. To identify whether it is a snake or a lizard, one has to focus if the animal has eyelids and external ears. If yes, then it is a lizard, not a snake.

4. Komodo Dragon is the largest lizard. It is seen only in the Komodo islands of Indonesia. They are generally 10-11 feet in length and they are so powerful that even animals bigger than their size succumb to death if they attack. They have strong jaw line and toxic saliva and they even attack humans and sometimes succeed to kill as well.

5. Did you often see lizard frequently taking its tongue out and in? They do it to smell. Yes, they smell by tasting the air around them. They can do this because they have something called as vomeronasal organ.

6. Do you know that lizard’s teeth are replaced every time the earlier set of teeth fall off? Well, not every species of the lizard is lucky to get their teeth replaced naturally time and again.

7. There are some species in lizards that squirt blood from their eyes to protect themselves from the predators or when they feel that there is some kind of threat. They can do this with the help of “horns” which are present near their eyes. The blood squirted from the eyes can go for a distance up to 4 feet.

8. When there is scarcity of water, they save water and excrete only salts and you can actually see a white residue on their body which is salt!

9. Do you know that lizards are born dumb and remain so till they die? No, we are not talking about being dumb but we meant that they don’t have vocal cords. That means they cannot make any sound. They communicate only through body language. However, Gecko Lizard is the only exception. It has vocal cords.

10. You think chameleons change color so as to camouflage with the surroundings and in this way, protect themselves from predators? You are so wrong! They change color according to their mood, temperature, health, communication and light. It is a visual signal for aggression or mating behavior etc.

11. Not just that, they can move their two eyeballs in two different directions simultaneously. They can also see ultraviolet light and most of the times their tongue is 1.5 to 2 times longer than their bodies.

12. Immaterial to what species a lizard belongs, they need sunlight to maintain their body temperature. Why you ask? It is because they are cold blooded animals and their body temperature changes with slight change in temperature in their surroundings.

13. They grow till they live. When they need to grow more they simply shed their skin  and start growing. Growing was never so easy!

14. Lizards are very good climbers. Gecko lizard is the master of all lizards when it comes to climbing. Some species can run backwards with great speed.

15. Another adaptation to save themselves from predators is “Autotomy.” The lizards can shed their tails off. A new tail would grow after some time but it will be thinner than the original one.

16. Some species found in America like the basilisk and collared lizards can actually walk on water when they are small. This ability is called bipedal locomotion.

17. Some lizards like Dracos can glide. They can glide from one tree top to another. A thin membrane joins the fore and the hind limbs of the lizard to make gliding possible. It acts like a parachute and these lizards are rightly called as the flying dragons.

18. Greeks and Egyptians considered lizards as representative of knowledge, wisdom and fortune and therefore in hieroglyphics, their picture denoted the symbol for the word plentiful.

19. In central America, lizards like Iguanas are eaten. They are considered as the fish of the desert.

20. Few lizards have wonderful eyesight and they even have acute color vision that is, they can differentiate between colors.