Central Baja California Banded Rock Lizard from … central Baja California, in the rocks.
Central Baja California Banded Rock Lizard
Category: Phrynosomatidae
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?
Zebra-tailed Lizards of Baja California
Some of the many, many Zebra-tailed Lizards from a famous beach at the southern tip of Baja California.
Zebra-tailed Lizard On The Beach
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.
Regal Horned Lizard
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.
Sideblotched Lizard Side-eye
If you’re anywhere in the western US, these lizards are familiar. The Common Side-blotched Lizard lives throughout even the most urbanized areas of Phoenix and Tucson, running up and down the block and stucco approximation of natural habitat. This one is particularly colorful, giving me side-eye while I took a few photos.
