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Understanding Lizards

24 Mar 2010

Lizards are some of the most fascinating reptiles to ever exist on Earth.  They are a widespread group of reptiles with over 5,000 species located in areas all over the world except for Antarctica and several oceanic islands.  Lizards were traditionally identified as the suborder Lacertilia and since then have been known to be members of the Lepidosauria or reptiles with overlapping scales.  Lizards are “squamate” reptiles, meaning they are scaled reptiles and are known to be the largest order of reptiles today.  One of the characteristics that you can use to tell if an animal is a squamate reptile is if it has horny shields or scales on its body.  Though snakes also fall under the Squamata category as well, they are set apart from the lizards because the latter normally would have limps and external ears.

There are many other characteristics unique to lizards.  Here are some of these characteristics:
 

  • Most lizards are known well for their ability to detach their tails as a defense mechanism in order to escape from predators.  This is also known as “autotomy” but this characteristic is present only to a certain number of lizard species. 

 

  • Other characteristics that distinguish lizards are vision, which is developed well in most lizards, communication through body language or a change in color, and the production of pheromones.  Pheromone is a chemical substance triggered by certain types of animals as a natural response to certain factors such as food, sex, and danger or alarm. 

 

  • Of all of these characteristics, the most important among lizards is their vision because they need to be able to see their prey clearly and to communicate with other members of their species. 

 

  • They also depend greatly on their ability to communicate through body language in order to mark their territories, attract mates, and even to resolve disputes with one another. 

 

  • The ability to change their bodies into different bright colors is another characteristic that makes lizards all the more fascinating.  The most popular lizard that is able to do this is the chameleon.  The change in colors is used to scare away predators or to camouflage among the leaves, branches, and plants in the surrounding area.


In most cases, lizards do not pose any kind of threat to humans.  It is only the larger species of lizards that are recognized as dangerous and should not be provoked, one of which is the famous Komodo dragon since they are known for a long time for stalking, hunting, and killing humans.  Other lizards are also avoided because they can produce venom, examples of which are the beaded lizard and the Gila monster.  Though their venom is classified as “not deadly” they can cause extreme pain due to their powerful bites.  But apart from these, lizards are harmless and are even taken in as pets.  In fact, people would shop for lizards in pet stores, purchasing houses/cages, tanks, and food for lizards from pet stores and reptile shops all over the world.     

 

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