Liolaemus Nigroviridis Lizard

This beauty is an endemic lizard from Central Chile that can be found from the 5^th to the 6^th region. It lies between 1100 and 1300 meters above sea level, and prefers living among coligüe bushes, oak forests, and in high altitude bushes. Females are thin and generally greyish browned-colored, but they don’t have the typical greenish touch present in males.

As an adaptation, it has developed ovoviviparity (a mode of reproduction in animals in which embryos develop inside eggs that are retained within the mother's body until they are ready to hatch), so it doesn’t need to find special conditions for laying its eggs. Among its predators are large lizards (iguanas) and birds of prey.


Why are you looking at me?

In general, lizards can be seen suntanning very early in the morning; when they reach the proper temperature they start to move quickly and avoid overheating, looking for shades during the midday. If a predator caughts them, they drop their tails (autotomy). The detached tail will continue to wriggle, creating a deceptive sense of continued struggle and distracting the predator's attention from these lizards. Fortunately, they can partially regenerate their tails over a period of weeks.