A Lizard's Eye View of Life as a Reptile
If you think of lizards at all, you think of those little reptiles that you see scurrying down a tree trunk or across your back door at dusk. There are many different types of lizards in the reptile family, and the group as a whole has some very interesting behaviors. The first unusual behavior, and the one most people know, is that they can separate from their tails when they are in danger of being caught. You may have experienced this as a child when trying to catch one of the small lizards or striped skinks, and ended up with only a tail in your hand.
The Texas gecko actually uses his tail as a decoy when confronted by a predator, such as a snake. The gecko makes his tail point straight up, waves it slowly from side to side, and then sheds the tail. The tail itself continues to wriggle for several minutes, and is hopefully more interesting prey than the gecko itself. Lizard's tails are made so that a wall of cartilage passes through several vertebra in the tail, and the blood vessels and muscles are modified at these points to allow easy breakage without much damage to the lizard. It will grow a new tail, but never quite the same as the original tail.
A number of lizards also avoid being eaten by changing color, in order to blend in with the background. It generally only takes several seconds for a lizard to expand the pigment in its skin to become more like his surrounding colors. This color change is made even more effective if the lizard remains motionless. Even without color change, a number of lizards can effectively play dead, or, as we normally call it, "play possum". A number of predators need the vibration or sounds of movement to detect the where the lizard is, and so becoming entirely rigid can be an effective way of disappearing from the menu of the predator.
When a lizard is not being chased by a predator, it can do interesting and unusual things with its tongue. The tongues of reptiles can come in a number of different shapes, and lizard tongues are usually either long and narrow with a forked tip at the end, or short and broad. Both kinds of tongues are used to collect molecules from the air and bring them back to an organ in their mouth. This is a sense different than either smell or taste, but somewhat similar to each in some respects. Geckos use their long tongue to clean off their eyes, as many geckos do not have eyelids, and so wipe their eyes with their tongues. One Great Plains lizard regularly licks her eggs while waiting for them to hatch. In Australia, a skink with a bright blue tongue sticks out its tongue at predators, and lets it stay lolling out of its mouth. Naturalists are not sure of the reason for this behavior. Finally, chameleons use their long and sticky tongue to reel in their nightly diet of insects.
These behaviors are only the tip of the iceberg for this fascinating group of reptiles. Make your own study of these beautiful and unusual creatures, whether capturing one in your backyard, or discovering those a world away at the library.
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Dangerous Reptiles When people decide to buy reptiles for pets, some inevitably cross the line of safety and wisdom. Although ...
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Setting Up A Terrarium for Your Reptile A terrarium is similar to an aquarium except that it isn't full of ...
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Watch out for Reptiles! Reptiles seem more like creatures from another planet than any other animal, and snakes even more ...
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Gigantic Reptiles! Of all the reptiles, we are usually most interested in the largest ones - alligators, crocodiles, komodo dragons, ...
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Choosing A Vet for Your Reptile Carefully research your options for proper veterinary care before you decide to purchase a ...
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Searching for Small Reptiles Lizards are one of an interesting group of animals that you might not think about too ...
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A Lizard's Eye View of Life as a Reptile If you think of lizards at all, you think of those ...
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Learning about Reptiles Children often, at one time or another, will have an interest in learning about reptiles. Even if ...
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Reptile History Many people overlook that dinosaurs were reptiles, as are tortoises and turtles. Frogs are often lumped into the ...
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What Types of Lizards Make Good Reptile Pets? There is nothing wrong with wanting a reptile for a pet, provided ...
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Vacation With a Reptile! Are you fascinated with shows on TV that show wrestling, wrestling between man and alligator? Do ...
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Where to Buy a Reptile to Keep as a Pet Reptiles can be intimidating. They can also be great pets. ...
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Introducing the Reptiles! The family of reptiles is made up of turtles, lizards, snakes, different kinds of crocodiles, and a ...
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Rattlers - The Dangerous Reptiles! Snakes are probably the reptiles that fascinate and repel us the most. One of the ...
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Reptile Diseases Dangers exist when keeping reptiles as pets, but not just as bites and scratches. You can also contract ...
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Understanding Reptiles Did you think a frog is a reptile? Maybe it would help to learn the difference in reptiles ...
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A Day in the Life of a Fascinating Reptile, the Alligator Let's travel to Florida to meet one of the ...
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Reptile Accessories and Supplies Large reptiles need large cages or other enclosures. They will also need bedding, a water source, ...
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Safety With Reptiles Reptiles are animals to be respected. Many people think it's funny to irritate a reptile to get ...
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Snakes As Reptile Pets Most common snakes kept as pets in the reptile category are the corn snakes and the ...
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The Responsible Reptile Owner Many people think reptiles are cheap pets, easily accessible and easy to care for. However, after ...
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The Slow and Steady Reptile: the Turtle Of all the reptiles that can be found in an average neighborhood, turtles ...
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Reptiles Have Special Needs People have all kinds of different pets. Some people only feel safe with what is considered ...
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Raising a Reptile as a Pet You may have admired the unusual looking lizards at your local wildlife center, or ...
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Which Reptiles Do Not Make Good Pets? Basically, any reptile that is caught in the wild is discouraged for use ...
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Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to A Lizard's Eye View of Life as a Reptile. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
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Dangerous Reptiles
Setting Up A Terrarium for Your Reptile
Watch out for Reptiles!
Gigantic Reptiles!
Choosing A Vet for Your Reptile
Searching for Small Reptiles
A Lizard's Eye View of Life as a Reptile
Learning about Reptiles
Reptile History
What Types of Lizards Make Good Reptile Pets?
Vacation With a Reptile!
Where to Buy a Reptile to Keep as a Pet
Introducing the Reptiles!
Rattlers - The Dangerous Reptiles!
Reptile Diseases
Understanding Reptiles
A Day in the Life of a Fascinating Reptile, the Alligator
Reptile Accessories and Supplies
Safety With Reptiles
Snakes As Reptile Pets
The Responsible Reptile Owner
The Slow and Steady Reptile: the Turtle
Reptiles Have Special Needs
Raising a Reptile as a Pet
Which Reptiles Do Not Make Good Pets?
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