This Ghost Anole was one of many anoles seen on a trip to the high forests of Guatemala.
Ghost Anole
Category: Lizards
Gila Monster At Its Den
A Gila Monster peeking out of its spring staging spot, just down the hill from where it spent the winter. It shares this spot with several other Gila Monsters, a handful of Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes, and the occasional tortoise. It will spend the majority of each day during the early spring doing, basically, this. Resting in partial sun, disappearing if predators approach, and waiting to head out in nest-hunting mode as soon as the time is right.
Gila Monster Eating Baby Cottontails
A Gila Monster I followed to a nest of cottontails. It took a while, but it ate all three of them that were in there. Amazingly, they all fit, and the lizard ambled off to rest under an overhanging root in the drainage. It was a good example of how the venom of Gila Monsters is not necessary for predation, as the venom played no apparent role in the capture or consumption of its prey.
Gila Monster Spring Movement
A Gila Monster out and about on a spring day a couple of years ago. On mild days, these animals start to move away from often communal dens to springtime staging areas. They may take daily patrols, searching for nesting mammals and quail eggs. It’s common for hikers to report them on social media frequently within a few days’ time, usually in late February or early March, which is a reliable signal that the process has begun each year.
Gila Monster In The Grassland
I spotted this young Gila Monster on an isolated rocky area surrounded by desert grassland. Gilas in this area can often have more black mottling than the banded version found elsewhere in the state. We took some photos briefly and let it be on its way.
Central Baja California Banded Rock Lizard
Central Baja California Banded Rock Lizard from … central Baja California, in the rocks.
Chuckwalla In The Canyon
A Chuckwalla surveys its vast domain, just north of the Grand Canyon. Here, these large herbivorous lizards take on a sandy, mottled color, making them harder to spot against the ground by predators flying overhead. For an observer at ground level, however, the shape of a vigilant lizards popping up from outcrops and boulders is much easier to spot.
Whitaker’s Termite Hill Gecko
Karnataka, India 2023
Common Side-blotched Lizard
These sideblotched lizards are common and found about everywhere. Even in urban Phoenix and Tucson, they can be seen running around on the maze of block walls and stucco. This one is particularly colorful, found in northern Arizona.
Greater Short Horned Lizard
A Greater Short-horned Lizard from central Arizona.
No doubt the comments will be full of “we call em horny toads as kids”. But, there’s more to it 🙂 These are lizards, rather than toads … which is a surprise to many born-and-raised Arizona residents.
There are also SEVEN distinct species of them in our state, all with their own appearance, habitat preferences, and specialized diet. So the “horny toads” you may recall playing with as kids may be entirely different than the species discussed.
And a favorite example of how confirmation bias can shape our perception of the world: another comment we always get on these posts is “used to see them all the time as a kid, not so much anymore”. While the population is in decline for some species, this is easily answered by answering this question: do you spend less time outdoors playing in the dirt as an older adult?
