A caiman lizard is an imposing reptile.  It has sharp claws, strong jaws, and can grow to be five feet long.   Fortunately for us, caiman lizards feed almost exclusively on snails and other aquatic invertebrates, which are plentiful in the Amazon River basin where it lives.

Because of its large size and bright coloration, caiman lizards have become very popular in the pet trade.  As a result of this, though, scientists don’t know much about how these lizards function in their natural habitat, since most of our knowledge of this species comes from observing captive lizards.  What we do know is that caiman lizards like to climb, are excellent swimmers, and are considered to be quite intelligent.

In the wild, caiman lizards have been seen taking different approaches to grabbing a snail depending on how it is situated.  In captivity, these lizards make excellent problem solvers, figuring out how to open containers that had food in them.  Caiman lizards can even recognize their owners, and react accordingly.  Not bad for something that spends most of its life crunching snails.

Names can be deceiving.  The Mexican mole lizard does live in Mexico, and it does burrow underground like its namesake, but it isn’t a lizard.  Nor is it a worm, despite its appearance.  The Mexican mole lizard is a type of reptile called amphisbaenians. These are reptiles that have evolved to dig through the ground like worms, and all of them except for the genus Bipes have lost their legs.

The Mexican mole lizard burrows using the massive claws on its forelegs to shovel dirt out of the way. It is rarely seen above the surface, only coming out at night or after a heavy rain (just like worms).  Since it lives underground most of the time, this reptile has very small, beady eyes that only really detect changes in light. This doesn’t matter to the Mexican mole lizard, though, because it has a very strong sense of touch, which allows it to detect the slightest movement above or below ground.

Mexican mole lizards will eat just about anything.  Insect larvae, earthworms, ants, termites, and even small lizards have fallen prey to these voracious reptiles.  If they sense something above ground that they can eat, the Mexican mole lizard sneaks up on the unfortunate creature from below, then grabs it and drags it down to tear apart with their interlocking teeth.  Luckily for us humans, amphisbaenians are pretty small. A large Mexican mole lizard is only 9 inches long, about the size of a stretched out earthworm.

This toothy grin belongs to none other than the gharial, a large crocodilian that lives in the rivers of India. The average length of these reptiles is 11-15 feet, but individuals longer than 20 feet have been recorded. Although they are big and have a mouthful of razor sharp fangs, there has never been a report of a gharial attacking or killing humans.  And while jewelry is occasionally found in their stomachs, it is thought that gharials swallow these to use as gastroliths (stones that are ingested to aid in digestion) or to help control their buoyancy.

In fact, the only things adult gharials will eat are fish and (very rarely) crustaceans.  They accomplish this by laying completely still under water and wait for a fish to swim by.  When one does, the gharial will swing its head around and grab it with jaws that are perfectly adapted for the job; a thinner snout reduces water resistance, and the sharp teeth keep anything from escaping this crocodilian’s clutches. Young gharials are less picky.  They eat small fish, but will also chow down on insects, tadpoles, and frogs.

When a male gharial fully matures around age 13 (gharials can live to 60 years old in the wild), it develops a large protuberance on the end of its nose, called a boss.  This growth is similar in appearance to a clay pot called a ghara, which is where the gharial gets its name.  The exact purpose of the nasal boss is unknown, but it does make Gavialis gangeticus the only crocodilian to exhibit visual sexual dimorphism.

Reaching a maximum length of 4 inches, the Barbados threadsnake is the smallest snake ever. It’s so small that female snakes only develop one egg at a time, and the baby that hatches from it is already half the size of an adult, because if it were any smaller, it wouldn’t be able to find food for itself.

These tiny snakes live exclusively on the island of Barbados, hence the name.  Unlike other snakes, the mouth of the Barbados threadsnake barely opens, so it spends most of its time burrowing in the moist island soil in search of near microscopic invertebrates.  Because of this subterranean lifestyle, this snake (like most others in the threadsnake family) has very poor vision, if it can even see at all.

While the Barbados threadsnake wasn’t formally classified until 2008, specimens had been recorded as far back as 1889, but were all thought to have been a different species. Part of the reason no one ever caught on that this particular threadsnake was a completely new animal was that the only way to really tell them apart is by their teeth, jaws, and scales, which can be difficult to see due to their minute size.  

The rubber boa is a snake that lives on the western side of North America, with a range stretching all the way from California to British Columbia.  This makes them the northern most boa species in the world, which is good for this snake, since it doesn’t handle the heat of the lower latitudes very well.  This doesn’t mean that the rubber boa’s habitat is restricted though.  These snakes can be found living in grasslands, forests, and alpine environments; basically anywhere that has a place for the rubber boa to hide in.

Having cover is very important to the rubber boa.  They aren’t very big (the maximum length of this snake is only about 2.5 feet) and are not aggressive in any way (which makes it a popular pet, since the rubber boa never bites), so it can be a little difficult to defend themselves from anything that wants to eat them.  If threatened, all a rubber boa can do is to release a foul smelling musk or curl up into a ball with its blunted tail acting as a fake head for predators to strike at.  

When night falls, the rubber boa becomes active and starts hunting for prey.  If it comes across eggs of other reptiles or birds, it’ll eat them, but the preferred prey of this snake are the babies of the other animals that make use of the shelter; mice, voles, and shrews.  Speaking of babies, rubber boas are ovoviviparous (their young develop in eggs, but hatch inside the mother, making it seem like a live birth) and can produce up to 9 baby snakes each year, although most females only reproduce every four years.

The Arafura filesnake gets its name from its tiny but numerous scales that give its skin the texture of a file.  This nocturnal snake spends most of its time in the water, and while it may seem counterintuitive, rough skin is an important trait to have if your diet consists entirely of slippery fish and you haven’t got any hands to catch them with.

Because the Arafura filesnake rarely comes onto land, it is a very slow slitherer.  The Aboriginal people of northern Australia (the snake lives here and in New Guinea) take advantage of this when they hunt the filesnake for its meat and extremely baggy skin.  All they have to do is feel around for this large (sometimes over 8 feet long) snake underwater, and then toss it onto the land, where it will be collected at the hunters leisure.  

Along with being a slow mover, this filesnake also has a really slow metabolism.  As a result of this, it eats less often than most other snakes, usually around once a month.  Arafura filesnakes have no problem finding food, though, since scientists think that their sharp scales contain sensory organs that can detect movement and help the snake catch fish.

Chelodina longicollis is a turtle of many names.  Some call it the Australian snake-necked turtle, others call it the common long-necked turtle, and some combine the two, calling it the common snake-necked turtle.  The most common name, however, is the eastern long-necked turtle, and it is easy to see how it got the name.

The eastern long-necked turtle lives in south-eastern Australia, where it makes its home in slow moving rivers or ponds.  The long neck of the turtle allows it to catch prey, such as small fish, plankton, and any dead animals that fall into the water, as well as allowing it to breathe without completely surfacing.  This turtle’s neck does come with a drawback, however.  The neck is so long that the turtle can’t pull its head into its shell, like other turtles, so it has to fold it in sideways.

If the eastern long-necked turtle is disturbed, it has an unusual defense mechanism.  Like a skunk, the turtle will emit a foul smelling liquid from the musk glands located near its tail, which is why some people call the eastern long-necked turtle ‘the stinker’.  

Meet the green basilisk lizard, also known as the plumed basilisk and the Jesus Christ lizard. Two of those names are self-explanatory. The males of this species are bright green and have three crests, one on their head, one on their back, and one on their tails.

‘Jesus Christ’ is supposedly what the researchers said when they first saw the green basilisk execute its most famous escape strategy.  That and the fact that the aforementioned escape strategy is running on water to evade predators led to this particular nickname.

Other than the fact that the green basilisk has the miraculous ability to temporarily defy gravity, these lizards are fairly ordinary.  They live in the rainforests of Central America, and eat both plants and animals.  This particular basilisk is one of the larger of the species, averaging in at about 2.5 feet (including the tail, which makes up more than two thirds of that length.  The females aren’t as colorful as the males and lack the back and tail crests, but are still striking.  The green basilisk is also an excellent swimmer, and has the ability to stay submerged beneath the water for half an hour.  

The flying dragon is not a real dragon.  It’s actually a small lizard found in the forests of Southeast Asia.  These lizards are a mottled brown, which helps them to blend in with their arboreal surroundings.  The only spot of color visible on them is the bright yellow dewlap, a flap of skin on the throat, which the flying dragons use to communicate.

This all changes once the flying dragons spread their wings.  Well, not actual wings.  All 42 species of lizards in the genus Draco have elongated ribs that they can stretch out and use to glide from tree to tree. Draco volans can glide almost 30 feet, which makes getting from one tree to the other a whole lot easier.

The females of this species are usually a little larger than the males, but they make up for that with the brilliant blue undersides of their wings, which they use to court the females. Once they have mated, the female flying dragon will glide to the ground, where she shoves her head into the ground to make a hole and lays a couple of eggs.

What if I told you that there is an animal that can be found in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, is carnivorous, has 15 sets of legs, and is probably IN YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW AND IT LOOKS LIKE THIS!!

Although it may look like some sort of alien monster, it’s actually the humble house centipede. They’re relatively harmless (most of these arthropods couldn’t hurt you if they tried due to their tiny teeth) and eat the bugs you should really be worrying about (aka cockroaches, termites, silverfish, and bedbugs).  House centipedes don’t carry disease, don’t destroy your property, and try to stay out of people’s way.  

The body of a house centipede is only about an inch long, but thanks to those ridiculously long legs and antennae, it can look much bigger.  It also spends a significant amount of time keeping those legs clean. Like a cat, it will groom itself, meticulously making sure that everything is in proper order.  So next time you see one of these centipedes crawling out of your drain, try not to scream or panic, and remember that this is one bug that you don’t want to squish.