A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Common Chuckwalla - Sauromalus ater

Duméril, 1856

Click on a picture for a larger view

Description • Taxonomy • Species Description • Scientific Name • Alt. Names • Similar Herps • References • Conservation Status

Red: Range in California

Click on the map for a topographical view

Map with California County Names

Southwest Page

Baja California Page

Adult male, Inyo County

Adult male, San Diego County

Adult, Inyo County

Adult male, San Diego County

Adult, wedged into a crack, Inyo County. The dark body matches its dark lava rock habitat.

Shedding adult female,
San Diego County

Adult male, San Diego County

Adult, Inyo County

Dark adult male on top of tall lava outcrop, Inyo County

Adult male, San Diego County

Adult, Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County © Todd Battey

Adult male from lava fields in San Bernardino County © Patrick Briggs

Adult male (top) with adult female (bottom) from lava fields in
San Bernardino County © Patrick Briggs

Adult, Riverside County
© Chad Lane

Adult, San Bernardino County
© Loren Prins

Adult male, San Diego County

Pale adult from pale sandstone habitat, San Diego County © Stuart Young

Adult, San Bernardino County
© John Worden

Adult male, San Bernardino County © Adam Clause

Adult male, San Diego County
© Adam G. Clause

Adult, emerging from rock crevice,
San Bernardino County
© 2005 Joshua C. Pace

Distant adult male in typical basking poisition, Imperial County

Adult female, Kern County
© Ryan Sikola

Adult male, Inyo County

Adult, Mono County © Keith Condon

Adult, San Diego County

Adult male, San Bernardino County
© Mike Ryan

Adult in rock crack, San Bernardino County © Mike Ryan

Adult, Inyo County
© Yuval Helfman

Distant adult female, Inyo County

Adult male, Riverside County
© Jorah Wyer

Large adult male, San Bernardino County. Note the large femoral pores.
© Andrew Borcher

The Common Chuckwall is the second largest lizard native to the United States (after the Gila Monster).

Adult female, San Bernardino County
© Alexandra Hicks

Adult, San Diego County

Adult female, Clark County Nevada,
© Brian Hubbs

Adult, San Bernardino County
© Terry Goyan

Dark adult from lava flow,
San Bernardino County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Hypomelanistic adult, Riverside County
© Brody Trent

Mating adults, San Bernardino County © Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Adult male from dark lava habitat in San Bernardino County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Adult feeding on top of a bush in
San Bernardino County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Adult emerging from crevice to bask,
San Diego County

Adult, eyeballing the photographer,
Inyo County © Jaye B.

Chuckwallas have a back that is
covered with granular scales.

Juveniles

Juvenile, Riverside County
© Chad Lane

Juvenile, Riverside County
© Jeremiah Easter

Hatchling from dark volcanic rock habitat, Imperial County © Stuart Young

Juvenile, San Bernardino County
© Ryan Martin

Juvenile from mud hills in San Diego County © Douglas S. Brown

Juvenile in April, San Bernardino County © Lady Li Andre

Juvenile in dark lava rock habitat, Inyo County

Mid-sized juvenile next to a crack it uses for shelter, San Bernardino County
© Mike Ryan

Juvenile, San Bernardino County
© Mike Ryan

Hatchling without yellow coloring, Riverside County © Adam G. Clause

Juvenile, Kern County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Chuckwallas in Native American Culture

A Chuckwalla hook on display at the Death Valley National Park Visitor Center.

When threatened, a Chuckwalla typically escapes into a rock crevice. If a predator attempts to pull it out, the lizard will use its rough skin and strong claws to wedge itself tightly into the crevice, sometimes inflating with air to further increase its pressure against the rock. The tool shown above - a sharpened stone attached to a stick - was used by Native Americans to pull a Chuckwalla from a crevice. The sharp angled stone impaled the lizard forcing it to release its pressure against the rock allowing it to be pulled out of the crevice. The Chuckwalla was later cooked and eaten or possibly dried and smoked to preserve the meat for later use. See below for more information about how Chuckwallas were prepared and eaten.

Todd Battey took these pictures in the Coso Range in southern Inyo County, an area known for its extensive Native American pictographs by the Piute tribe. The large rock contains paintings of deer and bighorn sheep on one side, and human-like forms on the other, including what looks to be a large lizard (the painting is 1.5 feet long) which is certainly a Chuckwalla, considering the importance of this large lizard to these desert inhabitants.

Habitat

Habitat, San Diego County

Habitat, Imperial County

Habitat, San Diego County

Volcanic rock habitat, Inyo County

Habitat, San Bernardino County, with a distant Chuckwalla sitting on top of the rock pile in the center of the picture.

Habitat, Riverside County

Artificial riprap habitat, Imperial County

Habitat, Owens Valley, Inyo County

Sandstone habitat, San Diego County

Habitat, Inyo County

Habitat, Imperial Coumty

Habitat, Imperial County

Habitat, Inyo County

Habitat, San Diego County

Short Videos

A large old male chuckwalla gets some sun, does some pushups, eats some bushes, then poops.

A Chuckwalla emerges from its crevice and does a territorial push-up display.

From a wide view of its habtat, we zoom in on a Chuckwalla high on top of a rock.

Chuckwallas in the San Diego County desert, including one that crawled up into a bush to eat some flowers.

A Riverside County chuckwalla runs across a sandy wash into thick vegetation next to a spring and a San Diego County chuckwalla displays on top of a large rock outcrop.

There are more pictures of this species and its habitat on our Southwest and Baja California pages.

Description

Size

5 - 9 inches long from snout to vent (12.7 - 22.8 cm). (Stebbins 2003)
The second largest lizard native to the United States.
(The Gila Monster is larger).
(Florida's Green Iguanas are not native to the state.)

Appearance

A large, flat-bodied lizard with a large rounded belly, and a wide-based blunt-tipped tail.
The neck and sides of the body are covered with loose folds of skin.
Scales are small and granular.
Tail will regenerate if detached.
Males have enlarged femoral pores.

Color and Pattern

Several color patterns occur.
Color can be black, reddish, gray, brown, yellow, or tan.
Color changes with age and varies with the color of the habitat.
Some individuals have red torsos.
The tail and sides are light gray or cream, sometimes reddish.

Male / Female Differences

Males have dark, usually black, head, chest, and limbs, with red, black, or yellowish backs.
Sometimes the dark coloring is covered with light spots and flecks.

Females usually retain some of the juvenile body and tail banding.

Young

The body and tail of young chuckwallas are more prominently banded with dark and yellow coloring.

Life History and Behavior

Activity

Diurnal. Rock-dwelling, sheltering in rock crevices or under rocks. Rocks, especially large outcrops and boulder piles, are used for basking. Chuckwallas are often seen in the morning basking on a large rock pile. After basking, they leave the rocks to forage for food.

Most active from spring through fall, remaining inactive in deep rock crevices during the cold of winter, but may be active all year in warmer areas. Also retreats into rock crevices during extreme heat.

Defense

When disturbed, a chukwalla will retreat quickly into a rock crevice, inflating its body with air and using its strong claws and rough skin to tightly wedge itself into the crevice to make extraction difficult.

Diet and Feeding

Eats a variety of plant leaves and flowers and fruit, including creosote bush flowers. Occasionally eats insects.

Reproduction

Breeds from April to June.
Females lay 5 -16 eggs from June to August.
Females may only lay eggs every two or three years.
Eggs hatch in late September.

Use as Food for Humans

Gifford, E. W. 1936. Northeastern and Western Yavapai. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology. Vol. 34, No. 4.pg. 26

"Extracted from rock crevices by sharp stick twisted into skin; seized by tail and struck against rock to kill. Cooked in hot ashes, either gutted or ungutted."

Jaeger, E. C. 1950. Our Desert Neighbors. Stanford University Press.pg. 220

"One day long ago, while traveling through the southern Nevada deserts, I came upon three Paiute Indians camping in a rocky gorge. It was late afternoon, and they were sitting around a fire cooking up a half-dozen large chuckwallas in an iron kettle. They had not taken the trouble either to behead or to skin the creatures and as I looking into the boiling pot I had only a feeling of repugnance for food... ...The Indians said they would remove the skin when they ate the lizards."

Wallace, W. J. 1978. The Chuckwalla: A Death Valley Indian Food. The Journal of California Anthropology. Malki Museum, Inc., Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning, California.

Habitat

Inhabits rocky flats and hillsides, lava flows, and large outcrops in the California Mojave and Colorado deserts.
Creosote bush is found throughout most of its range.
Although primarily associated with natural rock piles, Chuckwallas have also been observed inhabiting atypical places such as burrows in dirt, piles of railroad ties, and artificial rip rap.

Geographical Range

Ranges from southern California south into Baja California, and east of California into southern Nevada and Utah, through eastern Arizona and south into Sonora, Mexico.

Widely distributed throughout the Mojave and Colorado deserts in California, from the desert slopes of the mountains, north through the Owens Valley and east to the Colorado River.

The first Mono County record and a northern range extension was documented in the West-central White Mountains in 2016.
Herpetological Review 47(2), 2016

Elevational Range

Sea level to around 6,000 ft. (1,800 m).

Notes on Taxonomy

After examining variations in Sauromalis Hollingsworth (Herpetological Monographs 12: 38-191, 1998) changed the name from Sauromalis obesus to Sauromalis ater. He concluded that there are five species of Sauromalis and did not recognize any subspecies of S. ater.
In 2004 the name S. ater was officially adopted, but the name S. obesus is still used by some researchers.

No subspecies of S. ater are currently recognized.
Formerly, several subspecies of S. obesus were recognized:
S. o. multiforaminatus - Glen Canyon Chuckwalla
S. o. obesus - Western Chuckwalla
S. o. tumidus - Arizona Chuckwalla

S. australis - Peninsular Chuckwalla, from central and southern Baja California is now part of S. ater.

Alternate and Previous Names (Synonyms)

Sauromalus obesus - Common Chuckwalla (Stebbins 2003)
Sauromalus obesus obesus - Western Chuckwalla (Stebbins 1966, 1985)
Sauromalus obesus - Northern Chuckwalla (Smith 1946)
Sauromalus ater - Chuckwalla (Euphryne obesus; Alderman Lizard; Fat Toad Lizard; Fat Lizard) (Grinnell and Camp 1917)

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

None

Taxonomy
Family	Iguanidae	Iguanian Lizards	Oppel, 1811
Genus	Sauromalus	Chuckwallas	Duméril, 1856
Species	ater	Common Chuckwalla	Duméril, 1856
Original Description
Sauromalus - Dumeril, 1856 - Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, Vol. 8, p. 535 Sauromalus obesus - Baird, 1858 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 10, p. 253 from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Sauromalus - Greek - sauros - lizard and homalos - level or flat - refers to the ability to flatten its body ater - ? from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Related or Similar California Lizards
None. Sometimes confused for Gila Monsters, but the differences are obvious on close inspection.
More Information and References
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012. Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972. Flaxington, William C. Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Field Observations, Distribution, and Natural History. Fieldnotes Press, Anaheim, California, 2021. Samuel M. McGinnis and Robert C. Stebbins. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles & Amphibians. 4th Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2018. Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998. Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Turtles and Lizards of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009. Jones, Lawrence, Rob Lovich, editors. Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide. Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2009. Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Cornell University Press, 1946. Joseph Grinnell and Charles Lewis Camp. A Distributional List of the Amphibians and Reptiles of California. University of California Publications in Zoology Vol. 17, No. 10, pp. 127-208. July 11, 1917.

Conservation Status
The following conservation status listings for this animal are taken from the January 2024 State of California Special Animals List and the January 2024 Federally Listed Endangered and Threatened Animals of California list (unless indicated otherwise below.) Both lists are produced by multiple agencies every year, and sometimes more than once per year, so the conservation status listing information found below might not be from the most recent lists. To make sure you are seeing the most recent listings, go to this California Department of Fish and Wildlife web page where you can search for and download both lists: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CNDDB/Plants-and-Animals. A detailed explanation of the meaning of the status listing symbols can be found at the beginning of the two lists. For quick reference, I have included them on my Special Status Information page. If no status is listed here, the animal is not included on either list. This most likely indicates that there are no serious conservation concerns for the animal. To find out more about an animal's status you can also go to the NatureServe and IUCN websites to check their rankings. This common species is on the Special Animals List for some mysterious reason. There are no indications from the list that it is threatened in any way. In 2007, this lizard was legally collectable with a license.
Organization	Status Listing	Notes
NatureServe Global Ranking
NatureServe State Ranking
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	None
California Department of Fish and Wildlife	None
Bureau of Land Management	None
USDA Forest Service	None
IUCN

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