In The Desert

Back to
Animals

Back to
Animals

Lizard

Gila Monster

(Heloderma suspectum)

Let's start off with the only venomous lizard in the Southwest. The Gila Monster. These slow, cumbersome creatures are protected in the desert. You can not reposition, or handle a Gila Monster. They are pretty and do have different color patterns.

Photo Courtesy of Martin Feldner

Chuckwalla

(Sauromalus ater)

Here's the big shot -- the Chuckwalla lizard. At home in the desert with few resources and no water, they sustain a meager life style and even do very well here. Notice the bright colors on the mating male Chuckwalla. Sometimes you can get fairly close to them, as we did here.

Here's a female. They coloration is mostly a plain tan or light yellowish brown. She's eating their favorite food -- seeds. When the monsoons are going strong and it rains a lot or in the early Spring if it rains a little then the weeds, bushes and other plants in the desert will flower thus producing seeds. If not, then a lot of them can perish.

Why don't you see more of them in the desert? Well look at this photo and see if you can find the Chucky here. See the insert that was cut out of the original photo and enlarged. Binoculars are an important part of hunting for them.

Here's two very young Chuckwallas. You can tell by the black and yellowish banding on the tail. It is unusual to see two together like this. Their mom was just a few feet away.

Now this has got to itch! Photo taken in April and there were quite a few of the lizards shedding in this area of the Sonoran Desert. For more on this see below - Sidebloched Lizard.

Desert Iguana

(Dipsosaurus dorsalis)

Here is one proud lizard in the desert. This is the Iguana lizard is by far our favorite. They always look so bold and proud. They are a good looking lizard. They are also one of the few lizards that can tolerate temps up to 110 degrees. Other lizards will seek shade or a hole or go under rocks to get out of the heat.

We caught two male Iguanas fighting in the desert. Here they're showing off how big they are and prancing around in circles threatening each other. They have their mouths open and their backs are humped up in a threatening posture.

I have a whole sequence of shots that takes in this entire battle of the lizards. But here is the best one! This was at the end of the fight. The smaller one won and bigger one left with a bloody stomach and rear leg. They fight with their nails on their hind feet mostly as they have no teeth -- at least none that could bite you.

Meet Iggy! This was a friendly desert Iguana we met in the desert South of Wellton, Arizona in a very remote area. He came up to me and licked my finger and from then on we were friends. Linda feed him lettuce from our sandwiches and he returned every third day for months to see us. How strange -- we'll miss him!

Look closely and you'll a desert Iguana urinating. They urinate solidified urine which all part of their survival in the desert heat. They retain as much water in their bodies as possible. At first we thought this was an egg sack.

Collared Lizard

(Crotaphytus bicinctores)

This is a Great Basin Collared Lizard. And he is one of the prettiest lizards you'll find in the desert. All the collared lizards have very pretty markings. He also has a very long tail and a set of teeth and strong jaw muscles. Don't try to handle them!

Here's a close-up of the same lizard. You can see the mite pockets on his body near the front and rear legs; red spots. Mites live there and don't really bother the lizards. Also notice the long rear toes on this lizard. They have long claws.

This is also a Great Basin Collared lizard, only this one is a female. She was very close to the male pictured above. Really pretty colorful markings on her back.

This is another Collared lizard; meet the Sonoran Collared lizard. He was found on the East side of the Gila Mountains just West of Wellton, Arizona, not far from Yuma, Arizona.

(Crotaphytus nebrius)

Spiny Lizard

(Sceleporus magister)

This is a Spiny lizard and like the name suggests he is covered with scales that are have sharp points and are spiny. Doesn't he have a pretty red eye? These lizards have strong jaws also and you don't want to get bitten by one.

Leopard Lizard

(Gambelia wislizenii)

The Leopard lizard is another one you want to be careful around. These guys have teeth and very strong jaws. They also have these markings shown here. Very distinctive color pattern for a lizard in the desert. Also very fast.

Here's a female Leopard lizard. Notice how the females of some groups of lizards have this colorful stripes on their mid-section? Both of these lizards were photographed in the desert West of Yuma, Arizona on the Barry Goldwater Bombing Range.

Side-blotched Lizard

(Uta stansburiana)

This one lizard that you see a lot of in the desert. The Side-blotched lizard. A lot of times you have to really look closely to see the black blotch on their side that gives them their name. It's not always this obvious.

This is the exploded lizard! Just kidding! This is also a side-blotched lizard that's shedding. When I first saw this lizard in the desert I thought it was dead, till it took off. It did sit still long enough for me to get this photo of him.

(Aspidoscelis tigris)

Here is the Whiptail lizard. You'll see them running at 100 miles an hour across a road in the desert. When they stop you'll recognize them by the long black whip tail and narrow pointed head. They eat other lizards.

Zebra-tailed Lizard

(Callisaurus draconoides)

Now here's an interesting series of photographs. While traveling down the road we noticed what looked like a small piece of crime scene tape blowing around in the road. It was two Zebra-tailed lizards fighting. And they had on their fighting colors. Notice the muscles in the rear legs.

Well after a few minutes he changed back to his normal coloration of browns. Notice you can't see the defined leg muscles anymore. and his back is no longer yellow. Interesting that they can do that. Also it was pointed out to me that most Zebra-tailed lizards don't have the black stripes on the top of their tails? This one definitely did.

Ok have you been paying attention? What is this photo of? It's a Zebra-tailed lizard too; only this is a female. See the coloration on the stomach with the red dot?

Greater Earless Lizard

(Cophosaurus texanus)

This is a Greater Earless lizard and it doesn't have the holes in the side of his head for ears like most lizards. This one was photographed in New Mexico.

Banded Gecko

(Coleonyx variegatus)

Now you'll only find the Banded Gecko at night in the desert. This is when we photographed this one. They are bug eaters and their skin looks very delicate and they are soft to the touch. Pretty coloration too!

Desert Horned Lizard

(Phrynosoma platyrhinos)

There are 10 different sub-species of these small horned lizards found in the Sonoran Desert. This one was found on the Bradshaw Trail in California. They all do (if so inclined) squirt blood out of their eye as a defense. They are also called horny toads. These guys are hard to see in the desert in their natural habit and are also hard to photograph! You could put one on a black background and then take his picture - BUT we don't like to stress animals and you really shouldn't either. They prey primarily on ants.

Mouse over the image to the right for more detail!

Desert Tortoise

(Gopherus agassizii)

This is the Desert Tortoise! They are big and if I had to guess this one weighed in at over 6 or 7 lbs. You should never touch or try to move one; why you ask? Well sometimes they don't urinate for up to a year at a time if we're having a drought. And if you get him upset he may urinate -- killing the tortoise. That would be a shame. So let them go their way and don't stress them in any way. Too many people standing around talking, yelling etc. can stress them too!

A female Desert Tortoise. She probably weighed in at around 4 to 5 lbs. Just a guess for both of these. So how can you tell the sex? Well the only sure way is to look at their bottom shell -- which is a no - no! so forget it. The other way is to look at the bony shell plate that extends out from under their head. The one above had a long straight single bone; the one on the left here had a wider one with a forked end. Sure sign of a female.

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles. The ones here on the right are Soft Shelled Turtles and are what they consider an invasive species. Maybe this is so but now they live here by the thousands, all along the Colorado River and the Gila River. So if you see one you'll know what your looking at.

(Apalone spinifera)

Soft Shell Turtle

Home Animals Desert Map Photography What's New?