A pair of Gila Monsters getting some of their first sun in the early spring, a couple of years ago. They had only recently made a short walk from an overwintering den, where they had buried themselves in dirt at the base of a boulder, to this staging area. Here, at least five individuals spend time doing, basically, this, for about a month before heading out to do their mysterious Gila Monster things.
A Gila Monster takes a morning stroll through springtime ground cover in 2024. The dry conditions this year have resulted in less green on the ground, increasing surface temperatures and making the desert with even less surface moisture than before. This will be a challenging year for many animals. Fingers crossed for a decent monsoon.
Some of the many, many Zebra-tailed Lizards from a famous beach at the southern tip of Baja California.
One of the many Zebra-tailed lizards running around a popular beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Unlike about every other situation where we were wading through beach dune sands looking for lizards and snakes, this spot had a guy with a cooler selling ice-cold cervesas. This needs to be normalized in herpetology.
This Regal Horned Lizard decided that basking right in the middle of a busy road was a good idea. It wasn’t. But from the look on its face, my moving it to an anthill a short distance away was not appreciated.
Guatemalan Beaded Lizard found within the small last range of this highly endangered species.
This brightly colored South Indian Rock Agama was among the first reptiles we saw on a visit to India. For scale, it’s about the size of a bearded dragon, which most people are familiar with.
Collared Tree Runner from Peru, found sleeping in low branches on a night time walk through the rainforest.
A Chihuahuan Whiptail from Greenlee County. This is one of several species of whiptail lizards in the area, darting around in grass and rocks as we walked the area looking for rattlesnakes.
