Basilisk

The basilisk is known as the Jesus Christ lizard in its native Central and South America, because of its unique ability to run on water. Unlike other lizards, the basilisk is equipped with webbing between its toes. When threatened, the basilisk takes to the water on in its hind legs, spreading its webbed feet to increase its surface area on the water. The basilisk can run from 10-20 meters like this, the younger and lighter basilisks able to run the farthest. The basilisk is named after the animal of mythology, possibly because of the male’s king-like “crown” atop its head. The muddy-to-bright-green colored Common Basilisk has a dorsal sail that runs from its head to its tail, giving it the appearance of a tiny dinosaur or dragon.

Chuckwalla

A crazy name for an animal with a crazy ability. “Chuckwalla” is a Spanish-skewered version of the name of a Shoshone Indian tribe, the Cahuilla. The chuckwalla lizard lives in the deserts and dry regions of Western America, and looks like your average desert lizard−big head, large body, brown . . . When the chuckwalla feels threatened though, it takes to the rocks, and once it has wedged itself into a crack, it swallows a belly full of air and puffs itself up! The animal effectively traps itself in the rocks, making it nigh impossible for a predator to pull it out.

Horned Lizard

Commonly called a horned toad, or horny toad, these flat-bodied lizards live in the Western part of the United States, from Texas onwards. Horned toads look pretty neat­−they have an armored body, with tiny “spikes” protruding all along their back and tail, and its head is surrounded by horns which lie flat when the animal is calm. The horned toad has a couple of neat tricks when threatened. The first is that it can puff itself up, which raises its spikes, appearing much larger and harder to swallow to potential predators. Some predators take a little more convincing though. If the horned toad continues to be threatened, it can also squirt blood from its eyes, up to an impressive distance of 5 feet! How does this happen? The horned toad restricts the flow of blood to its head, causing the blood vessels around its eyes to burst. Besides looking scary, predators don’t want their lizard meal tainted with blood, as it’s just not very appetizing.

Whiptail Lizards

Externally, whiptails don’t seem like anything special. They’re just your average Western United States desert lizard. Light brown or tan in color with dark blotches along the length of its body, and a long, “whip” tail. This lizard species is pretty amazing on the inside though−they can reproduce asexually! The female whiptail lizard has the ability to fertilize her own eggs, called parthenogenesis in scientific terms. As the pretense of copulation increases the female’s fertility, many times female whiptails will mount each other.1 There are numerous populations of whiptails where males are nowhere to be found.

Gila Monster

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Beaded Lizard

You might have heard of the orange-and-black colored Gila Monster, but few know about the slightly duller-colored Beaded Lizard. The skin of both these lizards is unique in that the scales are pebbled instead of smooth, hence the Beaded Lizard’s name. What’s so special about these two lizards? The Gila Monster and the Beaded Lizard are the only venomous lizards in the world. The Gila Monster inhabits areas of the Western United States and Southwestern Mexico, while the Beaded Lizard lives in Mexico and Guatemala. The venom in both these lizards is distributed like front-fanged snakes (such as the cobra). The venom glands lie in their jaws underneath the teeth, and the teeth themselves have grooves where the venom comes out. The Gila Monster and Beaded lizard grind their teeth together to circulate the venom throughout their prey. For humans, the bite results in a lot of pain, but is rarely fatal.

Frilled lizard

These cool reptiles from, also known as frilled dragons, hail from Australia and New Guinea. The frilled lizard gets its name from the flap of skin that lies placidly around its neck when the animal is calm. If the frilled lizard feels threatened though, it opens its mouth and the skin around its neck flares out, displaying brightly colored red-orange scales surrounded by a burst of white. Besides the bright colors, that generally scream “danger” in the animal kingdom, the frill also makes the lizard appear larger. If you’ve seen Jurassic Park, imagine the frilled lizard as a tiny dilophosaurus! If the frilled lizard’s bluff at bravado fails, it takes to its hind legs and runs for the nearest tree.

Komodo Dragon

The komodo dragon doesn’t have any particularly amazing ability (although if necessary they are capable of parthenogenesis). It’s still amazing though, if only because, at 6-10 feet, it’s the largest lizard in existence, the closest throwback to the dinosaurs that we have. The komodo dragon is part of the Monitor family, large lizards that live in Africa and South America. Komodo dragons only live on the string of islands off the coast of Indonesia, one of them being Komodo. Komodo dragons are many times mislabeled as being poisonous, although in truth they are not. These carnivorous lizards do have a build-up of bacteria in their mouth though, due to the fact that their gums are constantly being cut when feeding. The komodo dragon’s saliva also contains two types of bacteria. This means that any animal it bites has little chance of survival, as the wound quickly becomes infected.