A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Lizard Videos

This is a list of links to all the short videos of lizards that you can find on the individual lizard pages. The list is in alphabetical order using the Latin names. Some videos include sound, many do not. These simple videos are intended to show how a lizard moves or to show it in its habitat, but some of them show interesting behavior. They are kept short, and often without sound, to conserve bandwidth use. Most of them were shot quickly at the time and place where the lizard was found before it ran or crawled away. In many cases the lizards were uncooperative. Because many herps quickly run away and hide and others only move for a few seconds then remain motionless even when prodded, it is often hard to film herps in motion without capturing and staging them. Consequently, many of these videos use a few short segments to avoid showing only motionless lizards. Click on the camera icon to watch a video. Many of these videos are in the old Quicktime .mov format. The Quicktime plug-in has been removed from many browsers now so the videos may not play on your browser or your browser might download the video to your computer for you to play offline. Click on a link to visit the home page for a lizard.
The following links are shortcuts to the families of lizards listed below: Agamas - Agama Alligator Lizards - Elgaria Anoles - Anolis Banded Geckos - Coleonyx Brush and Tree Lizards - Urosaurus Chuckwallas - Sauromalis Collared Lizards - Crotaphytus Desert Iguanas - Dipsosaurus Fringe-toed Lizards - Uma Gila Monsters - Heloderma Greater Earless Lizards - Cophosaurus Horned Lizards - Phrynosoma House Geckos - Hemidactylus Iguanas - Iguana Leaf-toed Geckos - Phyllodactylus Legless Lizards - Anniella Leopard Lizards - Gambelia Lesser Earless Lizards - Holbrookia Night Lizards - Xantusia Rock Lizards - Petrosaurus Side-blotched Lizards - Uta Skinks - Plestiodon Spiny Lizards - Sceloporus Spiny-tailed Iguanas - Ctenosaura Wall Lizards - Podarcis Whiptails - Aspidoscelis Zebra-tailed Lizards - Callisaurus
	Agamas - Agama
	Agama picticauda - Peter's Rock Agama	An adult male agama does his push-up territorial display and chases a female, who raises up high and lifts her tail to deter him.
	Legless Lizards - Anniella
	Anniella grinnellii - Bakersfield Legless Lizard	A Bakersfield Legless Lizard crawls and burrows into loose soil in Bakersfield.
	Anniella grinnellii - Bakersfield Legless Lizard	A Bakersfield Legless Lizard burrows into loose soil in Bakersfield.
	Anniella grinnellii - Bakersfield Legless Lizard	A Bakersfield Legless Lizard in Bakersfield.
	Anniella (pulchra nigra) - Black Legless Lizard	Black Legless lizards burrow into Monterey County sand dunes.
	Anniella stebbinsi - San Diegan Legless Lizard	A San Diegan Legless Lizard crawls then quickly burrows into loose soil.
	Anniella stebbinsi - San Diegan Legless Lizard	The detached tail of a San Diegan Legless Lizard wriggles rapidly, looking like a living creature, until it gradually slows down. This illustrates how a lizard can drop its tail to distract a predator then crawl away to safety while the predator chases the tail. (This tail was not removed intentionally, it was unexpectedly dropped by the lizard when it was stressed from being handled.)
	Anniella stebbinsi - San Diegan Legless Lizard	A San Diegan Legless Lizard writhes around rapidly on a board. Accustomed to living on soft sand it can burrow into, it has difficulty moving on the hard surface.
	Anoles - Anolis
	Anolis carolinensis carolinensis - Northern Green Anole	A male green anole in Chambers County Texas displays his pink dewlap.
	Anolis carolinensis carolinensis - Northern Green Anole	A male green anole in Chambers County Texas quickly changes his color from green to brown.
	Anolis carolinensis carolinensis - Northern Green Anole	A light-phase green anole in Florida tries to catch a fly, but fails.
	Anolis sagrei sagrei - Brown Anole	A male brown anole in Florida displays his orange dewlap.
	Anolis sagrei sagrei - Brown Anole	A male brown anole in Florida displays his orange dewlap.
	Anolis sagrei sagrei - Brown Anole	A male brown anole extends and retracts his orange dewlap several times to advertise his presence. San Diego County © Joe Culligan
	Whiptails - Aspidoscelis
	Aspidoscelis arizoae - Arizona Striped Whiptail	Arizona Striped Whiptails wander around the Wilcox Playa in Arizona.
	Aspidoscelis arizoae - Arizona Striped Whiptail	An Arizona Striped Whiptail eats a small invertebrate.
	Aspidoscelis gypsi - Little White Whiptail	A LIttle Whiptail hunts for red ants in the white sands.
	Aspidoscelis hyperythra beldingi - Belding's Orange-throated Whiptail	On a cold morning in early Spring, several woozy Orange-throated Whiptails, recently removed from overnight traps during a study in San Diego County coastal sage habitat, awkwardly crawl across the ground to freedom.
	Aspidoscelis sonorae - Sonoran Spotted Whiptail	Sonoran Spotted Whiptails in Santa Cruz County, Arizona.
	Aspidoscelis sonorae - Sonoran Spotted Whiptail	An adult Sonoran Spotted Whiptail crawls along the ground in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. (This lizard was formerly classified as the species Aspidoscelis flagellicaudus - Gila Spotted Whiptail.
	Aspidoscelis tigris munda - California Whiptail	A California Whiptail forages on the slopes of a mountain in Contra Costa County.
	Aspidoscelis tigris sepetntrionalis - Plateau Tiger Whiptail	A whiptail forages and digs for food in Washington County, Utah.
	Aspidoscelis tigris sepetntrionalis - Plateau Tiger Whiptail	A whiptail digs in the sand with all four legs looking for food.
	Aspidoscelis tigris sepetntrionalis - Plateau Tiger Whiptail	Several whiptails running around looking for food.
	Aspidoscelis tigris stejnegeri - Coastal Whiptail	After being released, a Coastal Whiptail remains motionless for a short time before it slowly comes to life and races into the bushes faster than the camera can track it. It was found in a pit trap, then measured and marked in case of re-capture. The shock of the ordeal and the morning chill must have contributed to its initial sluggishness and disorientation.
	Aspidoscelis tigris tigris - Great Basin Whiptail	A Great Basin Whiptail in the Kern County Mohave Desert digs around looking for food, then eats a red ant, but has trouble with it.
	Aspidoscelis tigris tigris - Great Basin Whiptail	A noosed whiptail is released, but decides not to move until prodded and then it disappears in a flash.
	Aspidoscelis tigris tigris - Great Basin Whiptail	A Great Basin Whiptail climbs up into a desert shrub to search for food.
	Aspidoscelis tigris tigris - Great Basin Whiptail	Two Great Basin Whiptails forage along the ground and on a rock outcrop with their characteristic slow and jerky movement.
	Aspidoscelis tigris tigris - Great Basin Whiptail	Views of a couple of Great Basin Whiptails in the desert.
	Aspidoscelis velox - Plateau Striped Whiptail	Adult Whiptails in Arizona, foraging, digging for food, and defecating.
	Aspidoscelis velox - Plateau Striped Whiptail	An adult whiptail, digging in a hole, stops and slowly waves its arms and tail in a strange behavior I can't explain.
	Zebra-tailed Lizards - Callisaurus
	Callisaurus draconoides myurus - Northern Zebra-tailed Lizard	Female zebra-tailed lizards in the Nevada desert.
	Callisaurus draconoides myurus - Northern Zebra-tailed Lizard	A male zebra-tailed lizard in the Nevada desert.
	Callisaurus draconoides rhodostictus - Western Zebra-tailed Lizard	On a late spring day in Kern County I followed this zebra-tailed lizard around its sandy wash habitat. Most zebra-tails run away as fast as they can, but this one seemed curious of the large hairless ape with a funny hat crawling on its knees and only ran a short distance then stopped, allowing me to approach her closely again. But she still exhibits the flight behavior typical of this species - wagging her striped tail as a distraction from her body, and even doing a push-up display warning me not to come any closer.
	Callisaurus draconoides rhodostictus - Western Zebra-tailed Lizard	Several views of zebra-tailed lizards waving their striped tails to divert attention away from their main body, running off quickly, and doing the territorial push-up display.
	Callisaurus draconoides rhodostictus - Western Zebra-tailed Lizard	One early afternoon during a summer cold front in the Mohave Desert in Kern County, I was able to get close to several zebra-tailed lizards and follow them around as they moved relatively slowly compared to how fast they move when it's hot.
	Banded Geckos - Coleonyx
	Coleonyx variegatus abbotti - San Diego Banded Gecko	A gecko crawls up the side of a boulder and slips into a crack. Note the slow and deliberate way this lizard walks.
	Coleonyx variegatus bogerti - Tucson Banded Gecko	A Tucson Banded Gecko crawls up a rock cut on a summer night in Tucson, Arizona.
	Coleonyx variegatus variegatus - Desert Banded Gecko	Three Desert Banded Geckos out at night in the desert.
	Coleonyx variegatus variegatus - Desert Banded Gecko	This shows the detached tail of a Desert Banded Gecko wriggling rapidly in a defensive measure used to distract a potential predator to chase the tail and not the lizard's more vital head and body. The lizard was found on a highway after it was recently killed by a vehicle. The tail was partly severed and wriggling. When the tail was completely detached from the body, it continued wriggling as it was blown across the asphalt by a strong wind. Once the wriggling started winding down the tail was put into an automobile to keep it out of the wind as it slowly stopped moving. The video has been edited down from about 6 minutes.
	Coleonyx variegatus variegatus - Desert Banded Gecko	A night shot of a gecko crawling slowly and waving its tail.
	Greater Earless Lizards - Cophosaurus
	Cophosaurus texanus scitulus - Chihuahuan Greater Earless Lizard	A couple of lizards run around on a paved trail in Pima County, Arizona, waving their striped tails.
	Collared Lizards - Crotaphytus
	Crotaphytus bicinctores - Great Basin Collared Lizard	On a sunny day with an air temperature of 91 degrees and rock temperatures so hot I couldn't lean my hand on them for support, a collared lizard lets me and the camera get so close to it that I can reach out and touch it on the back. This confuses the lizard but he doesn't run off until after I do it a second time. No need to use a noose when you can get this close.
	Crotaphytus bicinctores - Great Basin Collared Lizard	A big male collared lizard lets me follow him around closely from rock to rock.
	Crotaphytus bicinctores - Great Basin Collared Lizard	A posing collared lizard gets photobombed by a guy in a silly hat then runs away in disgust. I don't blame him.
	Crotaphytus bicinctores - Great Basin Collared Lizard	Two juvenile Great Basin Collared Lizards in the Mohave Desert.
	Crotaphytus collaris - Eastern Collared Lizard	A male Eastern Collared Lizard basks and runs around on a rock wall in Kansas. In the middle, he eats a bug and smacks his lips afterward.
	Crotaphytus collaris - Eastern Collared Lizard	A tiny juvenile Eastern Collard Lizard, disturbed from its sleep under a rock, gapes defensively then, with a daring display of audacity, jumps repeatedly at the camera. At one point it even bit and held on to the camera.
	Crotaphytus collaris - Eastern Collared Lizard	A juvenile Eastern Collared lizard basks on a rock in Bernalillo County, New Mexico.
	Crotaphytus nebrius - Sonoran Collared Lizard	A Sonoran Collared Lizard basks on some rocks in Arizona.
	Crotaphytus vestigium - Baja California Collared Lizard	A Baja California Collared Lizard sits on a rock above a palm oasis.
	Spiny-tailed Iguanas - Ctenosaura
	Ctenosaura similis - Gray’s Spiny-tailed Iguana	Several spiny-tailed iguanas at a Florida park.
	Desert Iguanas - Dipsosaurus
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	Two adult Desert Iguanas engaged in mating behavior filmed in San Bernardino County in early April. © Alden Lovaas
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	Two adult Desert Iguanas engaged in mating behavior filmed in San Bernardino County in early April. © Alden Lovaas
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	A large adult desert iguana gets used to me and the camera and lets me get very close before he crawls away and does a few push-ups.
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	I crawled under a bush with a very friendly iguana and tossed him a desert willow flower which he gobbled up for the camera. More fun than feeding squirrels in the park.
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	A desert iguana eats flowers picked from a palo verde tree and tossed in front of it.
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	Desert iguanas eat palo verde and desert willow flowers.
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	A juvenile desert iguana in the Mohave desert.
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	Several Northern Desert Iguanas in the Colorado Desert.
	Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis - Northern Desert Iguana	A desert iguana darts around on the sand and does a territorial push-up display.
	Alligator Lizards - Elgaria
	Elgaria coerulea coerulea - San Francisco Alligator Lizard	Disturbed from his hiding spot under a rock, an alligator lizard threatens to bite and hisses several times when he is touched.
	Elgaria coerulea coerulea - San Francisco Alligator Lizard	A feisty alligator lizard tries to get away.
	Elgaria coerulea coerulea - San Francisco Alligator Lizard	A couple of SF alligator lizards found in Marin County, including one that bites onto a finger and won't let go.
	Elgaria coerulea palmeri - Sierra Alligator Lizard	A Sierra Alligator Lizard bites and holds onto my finger, then releases its jaws and crawls into a rock crack.
	Elgaria coerulea principis - Northwestern Alligator Lizard	A gravid adult female Northwestern Alligator Lizard found in a grassy spot in Thurston County, Washington.
	Elgaria coerulea shastensis - Shasta Alligator Lizard	An adult Shasta Alligator Lizard in Humboldt County.
	Elgaria coerulea shastensis - Shasta Alligator Lizard	Juvenile Alligator Lizards look and move like a little skink. Here, a tiny recently-born Shasta Alligator Lizard races around on sandy ground then ducks back into the piece of driftwood it was hiding under.
	Elgaria kingii nobilis- Madrean Alligator Lizard	A Madrean Alligator Lizard moves with typical serpentine motion, flicks its tongue, and breathes using the fold along the lower sides of the body.
	Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - Forest Alligator Lizard	A Forest Alligator Lizard is discovered under a board on a sunny spring afternoon. It tries to bite, crawls across the ground in snake-like fashion, tries to climb over the camera, sticking out its tongue, then ducks back under its board.
	Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - Forest Alligator Lizard	An adult is discovered under a piece of wood on a grassy hillside on a cold February afternoon in Contra Costa County.
	Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - Forest Alligator Lizard	As a defensive measure, an alligator lizard released its tail, which began wriggling quickly on the ground. I quickly filmed it in motion for 4-5 minutes. Here you can see about a minute of it moving at several different speeds until it is just barely moving.
	Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - Forest Alligator Lizard	A brief look at a juvenile Forest Alligator Lizard that refused to do anything interesting for the camera.
	Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - Forest Alligator Lizard	Two short movies of juvenile Forest Alligator Lizards uncovered in winter that don't want to move much for the camera until it's time to escape.
	Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - Forest Alligator Lizard	A Forest Alligator Lizard is discovered sheltering under a rock on a cold spring day in the Siskiyou Mountains of Siskiyou County.
	Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - Forest Alligator Lizard	Usually when we flip over a board we look under it to find animals, but when I flipped this board in Santa Clara County, there was nothing underneath it. Then I noticed there were three alligator lizards hiding in the spaces between the layers of the weathered plywood.
	Elgaria multicarinata webbii - Woodland Alligator Lizard	A large adult Woodland Alligator lizard with a full tail sticks out his tongue in Kern County.
	Elgaria panamintina - Panamint Alligator Lizard	A large old Panamint Alligator Lizard crawls around in a brush pile at a desert spring in Inyo County, then jumps off and hangs from his tail and hind legs before dropping to the ground.
	Leopard Lizards - Gambelia
	Gambelia sila - Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard	A Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard rests at the mouth of its burrow then runs off into its sparsely-vegetated habitat.
	Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	Stalking a leopard lizard with a lizard's-eye view.
	Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	Leopard lizards in the Nevada desert.
	Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	A sub-adult leopard lizard lets the camera get close on a road in the morning in Inyo County.
	Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	One morning I saw about a dozen leopard lizards basking on asphalt roads in Inyo County. These are a few of them.
	Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	A large adult leopard lizard is noosed around the waist then released where it was found in some low sand dunes in Imperial County.
	Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	A leopard lizard slowly wriggles its long tail as if using it as a lure. Or maybe it's a nervous behavior.
	Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	An adult leopard lizard runs across a road in Lassen County.
	Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	A tiny juvenile leopard lizard is caught with a noose. As it is being photographed, a large Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard runs up and grabs it, dragging it and the noose away, until I scare it off. The baby lizard is put back on its basking rock until it revives enough to run under a bush.
	House Geckos - Hemidactylus
	Hemidactylus turcicus - Mediterranean House Gecko	And adult and a juvenile Mediterranean Gecko run around on a white wall.
	Hemidactylus turcicus - Mediterranean House Gecko	An adult Mediterranean Gecko licks its lips on a motel wall in Yuma.
	Gila Monsters - Heloderma
	Heloderma suspectum suspectum - Reticulate Gila Monster	A Gila Monster crawls around in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.
	Heloderma suspectum suspectum - Reticulate Gila Monster	An Arizona adult wriggling the tip of its tail in a typical "tail decoy" movement, from Steve Bledsoe.
	Lesser Earless Lizards - Holbrookia
	Holbrookia elegans thermophila - Sonoran Earless Lizard	A gravid female from the Pajarito Mountains does a little dance on her belly, and male from the Santa Rita Mountains basks on a rock.
	Holbrookia maculata campi - Plateau Earless Lizard	A Plateau Earless lizard runs around on the ground.
	Iguanas - Iguana
	Iguana iguana - Green Iguana	A green iguana eats sea grape flowers in Monroe County, Florida
	Rock Lizards - Petrosaurus
	Petrosaurus mearnsi - Mearns' Rock Lizard	An adult rock lizard shows its rock climbing and jumping acrobatics, finally doing a defensive push-up display, then a juvenile lizard crawls around the face of a massive rock.
	Petrosaurus mearnsi - Mearns' Rock Lizard	Mearns' Rock Lizards in the San Diego county desert.
	Petrosaurus mearnsi - Mearns' Rock Lizard	Mearns' Rock Lizards on their rocks including one spotted at night.
	Petrosaurus mearnsi - Mearns' Rock Lizard	As part of their courtship, which I presume precedes their mating, a male bites the tail of a female, then follows her closely, positioning himself on top of her. © Dan K.
	Horned Lizards - Phrynosoma
	Phrynosoma blainvillii - Blainville's (Coast) Horned Lizard	Two different horned lizards are shown running quickly for a short distance then stopping to hide by blending in with the background, typical behavior for this type of lizard.
	Phrynosoma blainvillii - Blainville's (Coast) Horned Lizard	A juvenile horned lizard runs around in San Diego County.
	Phrynosoma blainvillii - Blainville's (Coast) Horned Lizard	A pair of mating adults, Los Angeles County © Huck Triggs
	Phrynosoma cornutum - Texas Horned Lizard	A Texas Horned Lizard sits, eats an ant, and runs around in Hidalgo County, New Mexico.
	Phrynosoma cornutum - Texas Horned Lizard	A Texas Horned Lizard runs around in Hidalgo County, New Mexico.
	Phrynosoma douglasii - Pygmy Short-horned Lizard	On a sunny June day a small adult Pygmy Short-horned Lizard let me follow it around closely as it searched for food, running from one slightly-elevated perch to another, then raising up on all fours and cocking its head from side to side to scan for ants. When an ant was spotted, the lizard quickly ran to it, opened its mouth, and grabbed it with its big sticky tongue. In this video I have edited together several short feeding instances, with most of the running around, searching and waiting for ants to appear removed.
	Phrynosoma douglasii - Pygmy Short-horned Lizard	More views of the same Pygmy Short-horned Lizard above hunting, feeding on ants, and trying to catch flying bugs.
	Phrynosoma douglasii - Pygmy Short-horned Lizard	More views of the same Pygmy Short-horned Lizard above running from place to place hunting and doing what looks like tasting or smelling the ground.
	Phrynosoma douglasii - Pygmy Short-horned Lizard	Several views of a tiny juvenile pygmy short-horned lizard in the sagebrush desert of central Washington, beginning with a zoom in that shows how hard it is to see when it is sitting still on the ground.
	Phrynosoma douglasii - Pygmy Short-horned Lizard	Every time I picked up a tiny pygmy short-horned lizard and set it down to try to film it in motion, it ran away quickly then stopped only a few feet away, where it remained still until I went to pick it up again, even though there were small bushes nearby that it could have run into to hide. The lizard was not relying on speed to escape, it was relying on its ability to blend in quickly with the background, expecting that I would not see it.
	Phrynosoma mcallii - Flat-tailed Horned Lizard	A Flat-tailed Horned Lizard runs rapidly across fine wind-blown sand and quickly buries itself with a final shake of its tail.
	Phrynosoma modestum - Round-tailed Horned Lizard	A round-tailed horned lizard is discovered sitting still, relying on its cryptic shape and color to blend in with the rocks. Then it quickly runs away.
	Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum - Southern Desert Horned Lizard	Walking around the Mohave Desert in Kern County one spring day I spotted several Desert Horned Lizards so I slowly followed them with my video camera hoping for some action. They did what they're designed to do - they ran in quick bursts a short distance, often under a bush, then they sat still hoping that their camouflage would make them invisible.
	Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum - Southern Desert Horned Lizard	I found this horned lizard basking on a rock on a cool morning in the Mohave Desert. It only had two speeds - sit still and hide, and run away as fast as you can.
	Phrynosoma solare - Regal Horned Lizard	A sedentary Regal Horned Lizard in the Arizona desert is encouraged to move for the video camera but refuses until it suddenly races away out of sight. Be careful what you wish for.
	Phyllodactylus nocticolus - Peninsular Leaf-toed Gecko	A leaf-toed gecko crawls around on a large rock outcrop at night.
	Leaf-toed Geckos - Phyllodactylus
	Phyllodactylus nocticolus - Peninsular Leaf-toed Gecko	A huge gravid female leaf-toed gecko with no tail runs around on a big boulder at night.
	Skinks - Plestiodon
	Plestiodon callicephalus - Mountain Skink	Views of a juvenile Mountain Skink in the Pajarito Mountains of Santa Cruz County, Arizona.
	Plestiodon gilberti rubricaudatus - Western Red-tailed Skink	A Western Red-tailed Skink dropped its tail to distract me from trying to catch it. The trick worked and I filmed the tail and its writhing distracting motion.
	Plestiodon gilberti rubricaudatus - Western Red-tailed Skink	A sub-adult Western Red-tailed Skink shows the quick serpentine movement of a small skink. Skinks are masters at diving into grass and disappearing. This video opens with the skink wriggled into some grass roots to hide.
	Plestiodon gilberti rubricaudatus - Western Red-tailed Skink	A little juvenile Western Red-tailed Skink with no tail is discovered underneath a rock.
	Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus - Skilton's Skink	A skink is found under a rock. It bites hard, refusing to let go, then finally runs through dry grass with typical serpentine motion, some of which you can see here.
	Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus - Skilton's Skink	A juvenile skink loses its blue tail, which writhes around on the ground. This is a defensive measure used to distract the predator which caused the tail to become detached from the rest of the lizard as it tries to escape.
	Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus - Skilton's Skink	In this video you can see how the blue tail on a juvenile skink stands out when the lizard moves, especially when it uses its stripes to blend into the vegetation. A predator is more likely to go for the tail, which can detach without hurting the lizard.
	Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus - Skilton's Skink	A big adult skink found under a rock in winter in Contra Costa County.
	Wall Lizards - Podarcis
	Podarcis siculus siculus - Southern Italian Wall Lizard	A brief look at a few of these aliens in their suburban habitat in Los Angeles County.
	Chuckwallas - Sauromalus
	Sauromalus ater - Common Chuckwalla	A large old male chuckwalla gets some sun, does some pushups, eats some bushes, then poops. An Oscar-worthy performance.
	Sauromalus ater - Common Chuckwalla	Chuckwallas in the San Diego County desert, including one that crawled up into a bush to eat some flowers.
	Sauromalus ater - Common Chuckwalla	A Chuckwalla emerges from its crack and does a territorial push-up display.
	Sauromalus ater - Common Chuckwalla	Where's Waldo? From a wide view of its habtat, we zoom in on a Chuckwalla high on top of a rock.
	Sauromalus ater - Common Chuckwalla	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.
	Spiny Lizards - Sceloporus
	Sceloporus clarkii clarkii - Sonoran (Clark's) Spiny Lizard	Views of several Sonoran Spiny lizards in Arizona.
	Sceloporus consobrinus - Prairie Lizard	Several prairie lizards at a Texas park.
	Sceloporus graciosus gracilis - Western Sagebrush Lizard	This movie starts just after a male Western Sagebrush Lizard ran up the face of a large a rock outcrop and tackled a female, huge and full of eggs and showing her orange breeding color. He continues to harass her and she moves slowly with her body and her tail elevated defensively. Then he settles in on a ledge above her while she rests. (She occasionally leaped after flying insects which landed nearby, but I could not get that on video.)
	Sceloporus graciosus gracilis - Western Sagebrush Lizard	A male Western Sagebrush Lizard in Contra Costa County runs between rocks, stopping to do his push-up display. This is the same male just before he ran up the rock and chased the female in the previous video.
	Sceloporus graciosus gracilis - Western Sagebrush Lizard	These three short videos show some interactions between a male and two orange gravid female Western Sagebrush Lizards on an afternoon in late June in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Tulare County. In the first video, they are separated but the male jumps down to join a female and the third comes down from her rock, then as their shade disappears, they move into a sunny patch only a few feet away from the camera to bask. The other two videos show lots of push-ups, tail elevating, shuffling around, and even what looks like snuggling.
	Sceloporus graciosus gracilis - Western Sagebrush Lizard	I followed a sagebrush lizard around one morning at my campsite with a video camera as it crawled over a large fallen tree, then foraged around eating small insects.
	Sceloporus graciosus graciosus - Northern Sagebrush Lizard	Several lizards from Mono and Inyo Counties, including a dual push-up display.
	Sceloporus graciosus graciosus - Northern Sagebrush Lizard	Sagebrush lizards from the White Mountains in Inyo County.
	Sceloporus graciosus vandenburgianus - Southern Sagebrush Lizard	A Southern Sagebrush lizard runs over the rocks and does territorial push-up displays.
	Sceloporus jarrovii - Yarrow's Spiny Lizard	Yarrow's Spiny Lizards from the Santa Rita and Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.
	Sceloporus jarrovii - Yarrow's Spiny Lizard	Yarrow's Spiny Lizards from the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona.
	Sceloporus magister - Desert Spiny Lizard	A male and a gravid female Desert Spiny lizard meet way up a tree and greet each other with push-up displays, nuzzling, and other interactions during the May breeding season.
	Sceloporus occidentalis biseriatus - San Joaquin Fence Lizard	San Joaquin Fence Lizards on trees along a river in early spring.
	Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii - Coast Range Fence Lizard	A male, approaches a female, chases her, then does a push-up display after she rejects him.
	Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii - Coast Range Fence Lizard	A few fence lizards in Contra Costa County.
	Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii - Coast Range Fence Lizard	Several juvenile fence lizards come out to bask in the sun on a cool and windy morning in early March.
	Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii - Coast Range Fence Lizard	A male fence lizard on a tree in Alameda County.
	Sceloporus occidentalis longipes - Great Basin Fence Lizard	A female fence lizard runs across a wall in Riverside County and encounters a male who pursues her. She rejects him and he runs to an open spot on top of the wall and does a push-up display.
	Sceloporus occidentalis longipes - Great Basin Fence Lizard	Dark phase Great Basin Fence Lizards bask and eat ants of rocks in Inyo County.
	Sceloporus occidentalis longipes - Great Basin Fence Lizard	A male fence lizard in Inyo County defensively showing his throat color and doing push-ups.
	Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis - Northwestern Fence Lizard	A male Northwestern Fence Lizard defecates off the side of a Butte County fence, wipes himself off, then does a territorial push-up display.
	Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis - Northwestern Fence Lizard	I'm not going out of my way trying to film this behavior - I can only take what I get - so here we see another Northwestern Fence Lizard doing his business for the camera. It's like they're trying to tell me something.
	Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis - Northwestern Fence Lizard	A male Northwestern Fence Lizard fights with a female in Placer County. © Rod
	Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis - Northwestern Fence Lizard	These two videos show a Placer County Northwestern Fence Lizard appearing to taunt a garter snake (a Mountain Gartersnake is my guess, because it lacks red.) The lizard keeps moving down towards the snake but when the snake moves towards the lizard, apparently trying to catch it for dinner, the lizard runs up the wall away from the snake. © Rod
	Sceloporus occidentalis taylori - Sierra Fence Lizard	Sierra Fence lizards run around a rocky area in the woods high in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
	Sceloporus occidentalis taylori - Sierra Fence Lizard	A Sierra Fence Lizard, or intergrade, runs around rocks in the forest up at 5,600 ft. in Tuolumne County.
	Sceloporus orcutti - Granite Spiny Lizard	A male Granite Spiny Lizard moves over to a female who is basking on a nearby rock and presents himself to her. She's not interested and slowly moves away from him with her back and tail slightly arched then does some push-ups. He retreates and does some push-ups.
	Sceloporus orcutti - Granite Spiny Lizard	A Male Granite Spiny Lizard (the same guy as the one to the left, a few minutes after that video ended) does his territorial push-up display, lifting his body high off the rock, pausing briefly to eat something with his big pink tongue.
	Sceloporus orcutti - Granite Spiny Lizard	Several adult lizards are shown in various rocky habitats.
	Sceloporus poinsettii poinsettii - New Mexico Crevice Spiny Lizard	Crevice Spiny lizards basking on rocks in New Mexico.
	Sceloporus tristichus - Plateau Fence Lizard	Two male plateau lizards battle for territory in Washington County, Utah. The victor returns to his tree branch and does a few puch-ups.
	Sceloporus uniformis - Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard	A big Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard is shown after being noosed, with the noose still around its neck. As soon as I begin to release it, hoping to get some more video of it on its tree, it fools me and runs away along the ground.
	Sceloporus uniformis - Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard	Yellow-backed Spiny Lizards pose and do territorial push-up displays in Southwest Utah.
	Sceloporus uniformis - Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard	Spiny Lizards in the Nevada Desert
	Sceloporus virgatus - Striped Plateau Lizard	Striped Plateau Lizards in the Chiricahua Mountains.
	Fringe-toed Lizards - Uma
	Uma notata - Colorado Desert Fringe-toed Lizard	A fringe-toed lizard runs slowly, then very quickly over the hot sand.
	Uma scoparia - Mohave Fringe-toed Lizard	A fringe-toed lizard buries itself in the sand to hide. This lizard was captive and sluggish and buries itself slowly and incompletely. In the wild a lizard runs quickly then dissapears in a flash as it dives into the sand.
	Uma scoparia - Mohave Fringe-toed Lizard	The llizard runs quickly over the sand. So quickly I almost missed it.
	Tree and Brush Lizards - Urosaurus
	Urosaurus graciosus - Long-tailed Brush Lizard	We slowly move up to and into the middle of a Creosote bush to find a Long-tailed Brush Lizard on a branch resting motionless and relying on its camouflage to stay hidden.
	Urosaurus graciosus - Long-tailed Brush Lizard	A Long-tailed Brush Lizard moves along a branch.
	Urosaurus microscutatus - Small-scaled Lizard	Some good looks at a camera-tolerant female brush lizard before she bolts, with some impressive tail wagging.
	Urosaurus microscutatus - Small-scaled Lizard	A female brush lizard does a few push-up displays and some tail wagging.
	Urosaurus microscutatus - Small-scaled Lizard	This video shows how to noose a lizard. After a missed attempt, Stuart finally gets the noose around the lizard's neck and pulls it off the rock. It's a colorful male Baja California Brush Lizard. After we admire him, he is put back on his boulder.
	Urosaurus ornatus schottii - Schott's Tree Lizard	Tree Lizards beside a creek in Coconino County, Arizona
	Urosaurus ornatus schottii - Schott's Tree Lizard	Tree Lizards in Coconino County, Arizona, doing territorial push-up displays.
	Urosaurus ornatus schottii - Schott's Tree Lizard	Two tree lizards running around on buildings. The first in Coconino County, Arizona, the second in Pima County, Arizona.
	Urosaurus ornatus symmetricus - Colorado River Tree Lizard	This is brief look at a Colorado River Tree Lizard that is well-camouflaged on a tree near the Colorado River in Arizona.
	Side-blotched Lizards - Uta
	Uta stansburiana elegans - Western Side-blotched Lizard	A male side-blotched lizard tries to pursuade a female, chasing her and displaying. She is not interested, so she runs off the rock into the San Diego County desert.
	Uta stansburiana elegans - Western Side-blotched Lizard	Common Side-blotched lizards in the Mohave Desert in San Bernardino County bask on rocks, do territorial push-ups and move around in the desert.
	Uta stansburiana elegans - Western Side-blotched Lizard	Walking through the San Bernardino County Mohave desert we discover several of these common lizards basking in the sun.
	Uta stansburiana elegans - Western Side-blotched Lizard	A female side-blotched lizard in the San Diego County desert repeatedly goes in and out of a small hole under an exposed root, digging out the sand with her feet and pushing it lower with her body. It's the middle of the May breeding season, so maybe she is digging out a place to lay her eggs.
	Uta stansburiana nevadensis - Nevada Side-blotched Lizard	Side-blotched Lizards from the sagebrush desert of northern Inyo County.
	Night Lizards - Xantusia
	Xantusia henshawi henshawi - Granite Night Lizard	Granite Night Lizards running around on huge rocks at night.
	Xantusia henshawi henshawi - Granite Night Lizard	A tiny night lizard, disturbed from its daytime hiding place, runs up the side of a boulder. Notice the wiggling, almost serpentine running motion of this lizard.
	Xantusia vigilis vigilis - Desert Night Lizard	A view of some Desert Night Lizards, discovered underneath dead Joshua Tree branches in the desert, close up and in motion.
	Xantusia vigilis vigilis - Desert Night Lizard	The detached tail of a Desert Night Lizard wriggles on the ground. (It kept wriggling for almost 4 minutes.)

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