Whether you call them gliding lizards or flying dragons or something else, Draco are pretty darn cool. This is a Five-banded Flying Dragon (Draco quinquefasciatus) in southern Thailand, with gliding surfaces partially extended. I've seen a few of them glide from tree to tree, but I haven't photographed that yet. #herps#lizard#nature#naturephotography
Maggie is fascinated with #lizards, and it's her life mission to catch this little fence #lizard that lives in the pecan tree. Her new name is the Lizard Queen.
The Gila Monster is a desert dweller ironically named after the Gila river, where it is a common sight. It is the only venomous lizard native to the United States and the largest lizard north of the Mexican border, growing to about 22" in total length. Rather than injecting venom through hollow fangs like many snakes, it has enlarged, grooved teeth in its lower jaw that chew the venom in through capillary action. It can live for several years on the fat stored in its tail, but can't detach and regrow it like other lizards do.
Small wildlife seen on a hike near a stream. The main trail mostly ran along the chaparral-covered hillside just outside the riparian zone, but a few branches went down through the trees to the stream.
The lizard was well-camouflaged as it skittered around the tree trunk, in contrast to the two #dragonflies (a vivid blue dancer and a flame skimmer -- you can probably guess which is which!) There were quite a few small blue dancers (like half this length!) flying around the trail uphill from the stream bed. This one was resting on a wooden beam placed across the stream as a bridge. Finally, a checkered white #butterfly in front of the invasive mustard plants that were all over the lower parts of the chaparral.
i went back to the exact same spot i saw the #lizard yesterday and this time i had my phone camera app open and lens wiped off and ready to snap --and the lizard was right there in the exact same spot and stayed frozen in place for about 2 minutes! so stoked!!!!!!
Calcifer’s grown a lot since November. She enjoys hopping over precarious gaps and still isn’t sure about the lights in the living room ceiling because they look like giant eyes.
I used to love this game that AfroHerper played on ExTwitter, so here's my version of it from the recent Mexico biodiversity cataloging expedition.
There is a Ditmars horned lizard ("horny toad") in this photo. It's the one I found and the first of only two found on the trip. It's a juvenile about 3" long.
If you see it, don't spill the beans! I'm hitting the road soon, but will give the answer tomorrow or tonight.
BTW, it's not hidden in the watermark or anything sneaky like that. They are just really hard to spot on the ground until they move.
Endemic to Indonesia, the Sulawesi Black Sailfin Lizard is one epic dinosaur-looking lizard that can reach a respectable meter in length. It is one of five species of sailfin dragons, which are excellent swimmers thanks to the "sail" on their tails. Unsurprisingly, it is found near water, like rivers and mangroves, and is even able to run short distances across water using both feet and tail for support, like the basilisk (or Jesus lizard). Its diet is varied and includes mostly leaves, fruits, insects and crustaceans.
Apparently I stopped one day short of covering all my photos from the Philadelphia plant show! Probably because my kid had an entry in this category, which is also hard to photograph. Miniature gardens/landscapes, which covers a range of approaches. Info in alt-text; 2nd post to follow.
Here's my daughter's entry, which also had a lot less building, but above-average creativity. She was inspired by the mosaic lizard in Gaudi's gardens in Barcelona (photo in the half of the photos I haven't posted, but link here: https://wanderingtrader.com/travel-photos/parc-guell-lizard-barcelona/) and built a two-tiered planter with lizard and bowl.