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Behavior
These solitary, diurnal lizards emerge in the morning and, before seeking food, bask in the sun until their optimum body temperature of 100 - 105 degrees Fahrenheit is reached. Because of this need for high heat, most common chuckwallas hibernate underground in the cooler months and emerge in February or early spring. Males fiercely defend territories just under an acre in size that encompass the territories of several females.
Common chuckwallas adopt an extremely flat posture while basking to maximize heat absorption as well as to camouflage from aerial predators. They are primarily herbivorous, feeding on leaves, fruit and flowers while insects represent supplementary prey. These lizards are said to prefer prickly pear fruit and yellow flowers, such as those of the brittlebush.
When the common chuckwalla senses danger, it quickly wedges itself into a tight crevice and gulps air to fill the loose skin folds, increasing to twice its size so predators cannot extricate them from their hiding spot. Like many lizards, chuckwallas are capable of autotomy, where they have the ability to drop and then re-grow their tail, if necessary, to evade predation. The wiggling tail is left behind to distract the predator as the lizard makes a getaway.
Reproduction and Breeding
In most parts of the common chuckwalla’s range there is an abundance of resources that tends to create a hierarchy based on size, with one large male dominating the area's smaller males and allowing them exclusive breeding rights to the available females. They use a combination of color and physical displays, namely "push-ups", head-bobbing and mouth gaping, to communicate and defend their territory to other males in the area.
Mating occurs in the late spring to summer, generally in the months of April to July, with males mating with several females in the area. The eggs, laid every two to three years depending upon rain cycles, are buried between June and August in a shallow nest excavated in the moist soil and guarded by the females. When the youngsters hatch out, however, they must make their way into rocky, hidden areas without any guidance or parental care from their adults.
Conservation
These animals are considered common throughout their range and are listed as a species of least concern by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). They are affected by the increasing number of human settlements being built in their desert habitat but do receive protection when inside the boundaries of national parks such as the Mojave and Joshua Tree.
Amazing Facts
- There are five species of chuckwallas.
- This is the second largest lizard in the southwestern United States, behind the Gila Lizard.
- Chuckwallas' teeth grow in grooves inside their mouth. If they lose one, they will re-grow one to replace it.