<- Back To Species Index

Ancestor: Zootoca vivipara (Common Lizard) 

Size: 40 cm

Dietary Needs: Small invertebrates such as beetles, woodlice, flies and  worms. Less often bird eggs, baby mice and tiny lizards of other species and young of their own. They also won't pass up carrion as long as there aren't other larger predators around the carcass that would be a danger. Because they're small they're often seen biting small scraps off almost bare bones when larger carnivores have lost interest.

Life Cycle: Each baby lizard grows inside it's mother in an amniotic membrane, feeding off the egg yolk attached to their stomachs, which gets internalized and is still being used up after it's born. Although the mother doesn't provide food, she does provide oxygen, and removes waste such as carbon dioxide. There is no eggshell but internal development is similar to that of a clutch of eggs, except the young hatch internally and  escape out of the cloaca. Any living tissue inside the mother related to development of her offspring is atrophied if still connected to the blood supply. If fragmented or dead, it's shed and passed further down where water is reabsorbed before exiting the cloaca as a dehydrated pellet. All of this is to conserve water and nutrients.

The young immediately flee from their mother. They are tiny and exit one after the other over the course of a few hours. They can total up to 60, but more typically are around 40. She will pick off any weak ones to try and gain back some of the energy and lost fluids from birthing. She isn't a smart creature, as a powerful brain generates a lot of heat and she needs to stay cool. She is only following a hunger instinct, as it's wasteful for her to just leave weak, sick or slow offspring alone when they won't survive anyway.

The lizards usually live alone and have a sparse population. This makes finding a good mate difficult, especially when they don't enjoy company. They find each other by leaving strong-scented excreta, which will indicate sex and whether or not vacant. The excreta is dry and becomes quickly dusty in the sun, carrying in the wind. Lizards searching for a mate will leave their excreta in trails, but if they find the trail of another of the opposite sex they will begin to pursue it. They can end up going the wrong way, but if a trail gets fainter they won't waste energy continuing and will abandon the effort.

There is a roughly even distribution of males and females in an area and both sexes can get competitive over a potential mate, depending on how many there are in an encounter. 

Other: They have skin flaps on their neck and sides which expand when too hot from blood flow, to try and help cool the lizard down.