Video
Lizards of Zion
Transcript
Hello everyone my name is Rachel. I'm an education ranger here at Zion National Park behind me you can see our beautiful cliffs and some rubber rabbitbrush. Today we're going to talk a little bit about lizards. Did you know that we have 16 different species or different types of lizards here at Zion and although they're small they are feisty. Lizards are masters of survival that use unique adaptations to help protect themselves from predators like birds and snakes. Imagine you're a lizard enjoying a hot sunny day basking in the sun when all of a sudden you hear a rustling in the bushes behind you. You look back and there's a road runner, like the one in this picture, eyeing you for dinner it's sharp beak pointed right at you. What would you do? I know what I would do. I'd run away as fast as I could and that's exactly what the western whiptail does that you can see here in this picture. The western whiptail is our fastest lizard and it can run up to 18 miles per hour. Some lizards aren't quite as fast as that and require other ways to protect themselves from predators. Take a look at this guy. This is the a photo of the greater short-horned lizard. It's a small lizard with tiny little um horns on the base of their their head and their body. This little lizard weighs about as much as three nickels and it can fit in the palm of a child's hand. But don't let its small stature fool you these guys have a nasty secret. They can shoot blood from their eyes. Are you surprised? Are you grossed out? Well that's exactly the point. Predators that wanna eat this guy for lunch think they're gonna get a nice tasty snack but when blood is shot at them they are freaked out and scared and they quickly lose their appetite. Now if you're a lizard that can't run away fast enough or scare your predators away you might think that you're out of luck but many lizards including the lizard in this photo the colorful side blotched lizard have one last trick that they can use to escape the grasp of their predators. They bargain with them. As a last resort the lizard can remove its tail and run away the predator gets a tasty little snack and the lizard gets to escape with its life. While it's not ideal for either of the animals, the lizards must lose its tail and the predator only gets a portion of the meal that it wanted, it's still a win-win for both animals. Whether they choose to run, stand their ground, or bargain with their enemies one thing is for certain lizards are masters of survival. We hope you all get the chance to visit Zion one day to see these incredible creatures for yourselves in the meantime you can download a Zion coloring book page of a lizard so you can create a Zion lizard at home. Find the link in the description below. Thank you for joining me today and happy exploring.
Description
Ranger Rachel shares some fascinating facts about Zion's lizards. Zion is home to 16 species of lizards, and these unique animals are masters of survival that use unique adaptations to help protect themselves from predators like birds and snakes. This video was created for ages 7 and up, but can be enjoyed by all.
Duration
3 minutes, 21 seconds
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