I think that the common green lizards that are found in abundance on Barbados are delightful ... except for the poop that they seem to produce far too frequently. It could be worse - they could be iguana-sized and produce even more poop. I think of these lizards as my friends, they are just too cute not too, but then maybe I’m a bit nutty.
However, I think they are very pretty, and I love how they will cock their head to listen if you whistle quietly to them. And just to watch them as they busy themselves protecting their territory and hunting for food.
After a shower of rain, the lizards will come out to drink from water that may have collected on a leaf or have settled on the ground. The tongue seems to function like a straw - it doesn’t flick in and out, it just sits there in the water.
Male lizards protect their territory with vicious fights where the loser limps away (literally) bruised and battered. At first they face off with bright yellow throats extended. If that does not result in one backing down, then the fight begins and they wrestle and tumble with bodies entwined together and jaws locked until one surrenders.
A moulting lizard is not very pretty as shown in one of the images here, but it is interesting, and the old skin is shed sometimes in pieces and sometimes as a more complete skin. The nearly black colour of the one pictured here means that it is either stressed or old, or both. If it is just stressed, the beautiful green colour will return after a period of time.
And a lizard egg is the cutest thing, usually hidden under a stone or in a plant pot. It is soft shelled, much like a turtle egg, but shaped more like a chicken egg. I have not been lucky enough to witness a hatching, but I live in hope.
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