Lizard PNG Transparent Images

Submitted by on Aug 23, 2020

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Lizards are a widespread group of flat reptiles with more than 6,000 species, located on all continents except Antarctica, as well as on most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic, since it does not include snakes and Amphisbaenia; some lizards are more closely related to these two excluded groups than other lizards. Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3-meter Komodo dragon.

Most lizards are uadrupedal, running with strong lateral movement. Others are legless and have long serpentine bodies. Some, like the forest-dwelling Draco lizards who are able to glide. They are often territorial, with males fighting other males and signalling, often in bright colors, to attract mates and intimidate rivals. Lizards are mostly carnivores, often waiting for predators; much smaller species eat insects, while Komodo eats buffalo-sized mammals.

Lizards use a variety of antipredator adaptations, including venom, camouflage, reflex bleeding, and the ability to sacrifice and grow their tail. Lizards usually have rounded bodies, raised heads on a short neck, four limbs, and a long tail, although some are legless. Lizards and snakes have a movable square bone, which distinguishes them from rhynchocephalians, which have a harder diapsid skull. Some lizards, such as chameleons, have prehensile tails that help them climb vegetation.

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Like other reptiles, lizards’ skin is covered with overlapping keratin scales. This provides protection from the environment and reduces water loss through evaporation. This adaptation allows the lizards to thrive in the driest deserts on earth. The skin is tough and leathery, as the animal grows, it spreads (smears). Unlike snakes, which throw their skin in one piece, lizards slough their skin in several pieces. The scales can be turned into spines for display or protection, and some species have bone osteoderms under the scales. Lizards’ teeth reflect their wide range of diets, including carnivores, insectivores, omnivores, herbivores, juveniles, and molluscs. These species usually have the same teeth suitable for their diet, but several species have different teeth, such as cutting teeth in the front of the jaws and crushing teeth in the back. Most species are pleurodonts, although agamids and chameleons are acrodonts.

The tongue may extend beyond the mouth and is often long. In beaded lizards, whiptails and monitor lizards, the tongue is forked and used mainly or exclusively for sensing the environment, constantly blinking to take a sample from the environment, and vice versa, to transfer molecules to the vomeronasal organ, which is responsible for chemosensation, similar to but different in smell or taste. Geckos use their tongue to lick to clean eyes: they have no eyelids. Chameleons have very long, sticky tongues that can lengthen quickly to catch insects prey.

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