INTRODUCTION:
HI, I'm the Arizona Night Lizard or sometimes I am called Xantusia Arizonae. I am commonly found in Yavapai County in Arizona. I love to explore rocky terrain and hide under boulders or dead dry plants. I am a petite lizard that can fit in the palm of your hand. I have little rectangular scales that cover my body. I have small blotches on soft light olive or yellow skin. I enjoy sunbathing on the rocks very close to my shelter to keep warm during the day. My diet includes a variety of spiders and insects. In the late summer I will have one or two babies to keep me busy.
WHO AM I?
I am a petite lizard that can fit in the palm of your hand. I spend my days sunbathing on rocks very close to dwelling to keep warm throughout the day. I will hide under rocks to keep my safe from predators that want to eat me.
I am commonly found in the Yavapai County of Arizona. I love rocky terrain with big boulders to build my home under. I also can find shelter in small crevices between rocks or under dead plants like a prickly pear or yucca.
My favorite things to eat are spiders and insects. My diet includes juicy beetles, ants and flies if I can catch them. Yum!!!
HOW DO I LOOK?
I have small blotches that cover my body like tiny freckles. My skin is soft to the touch and is usually a light olive or yellow background. This helps me to blend in with the rocks and helps me hide from predators. I can grow anywhere between 6 and 10 cm in length. My head is slightly flat and wide and it almost looks like a plate. My eyes do not have lids and my pupils are vertical.
In the spring it is time for me to think about having new little night lizards. I will mate in the spring and then in the late summer I will have one or maybe two babies. Wow, they can keep me busy!
FUNFACTS ABOUT ME:
A funny thing about me is that I love to be out and about during the DAY even though I am called the Arizona NIGHT Lizard.
ACTIVITY
You did a great job working on this lesson today. I hope that you had a wonderful time learning about me. So, let’s have fun doing an activity about me. You can work with your friends, parents or teacher. I want you to create a clay model of me. Try to include as many of my features that you learned about in the model. After you let your model dry you may paint it too. Have fun!!!