The sleepy bobtail lizard

Hey there,

here i just want to share some pictures of a bobtail lizard i took in Western Australia. They are very common here. Wikipedia

Their funny looking stumpy tail is supposed to confuse potential attacker but also serves as fat reserve for the winter time. They are very slow in general that is why some call them sleepy lizards as well.

Even they look a bit threatening with their blue tongue, they are complete harmless and eat mostly insects and fruits.

The ones i found online, have often a different coloring in compare to these ones here. I suppose they adapt the color of their environment.

Here you can find an very interesting article about a study about whether fleas and ticks are creating new subspecies of sleepy lizards

Lizard evolution under microscope as scientists investigate if ticks and fleas can create new subspecies.

Hope you could learn something new about this cool animal.

Thanks for stopping by!