We're off to see the Lizard! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ouroboros

The armadillo girdled lizard is native to desert areas along the western coast of South Africa. Like an armadillo, it is covered in armour, specifically, thick, squarish scales along its back and spines on its tail. Also like an armadillo, it can protect itself by rolling into a ball to protect its underbelly. The scientific name for the armadillo girdled lizard is Ouroborus cataphractus. The ouroboros symbol dates back to ancient Egypt, wherein it represented eternal cyclic renewal or a cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It has been a popular symbol in various esoteric traditions ever since.

The uraeus was an image of an upright cobra in a threatening pose used as a symbol by the Egyptian pharaohs. A caduceus is a staff entwined by a snake and is currently a symbol of the medical profession. A triquetra is a triangular figure composed of three interlaced arcs and has become popularly associated with Celtic culture. As far as I know, none of these symbols are associated with lizards though.

Answer: Ants

Not only is it covered in spines, the thorny devil has the scary sounding scientific name of Moloch horridus. Moloch is the name of an ancient middle-eastern god associated with child sacrifice, while "horridus" simply means bristly. Despite this intimidating name, the thorny devil is hardly a fierce hunter as its diet consists entirely of ants.

They will locate an ant trail and lap them up by the thousands with their short sticky tongues. The thorny devil also has a distinctive way of obtaining water in the dry desert environment: during the night dew condenses on its body, which is channelled to its mouth through capillary action by special grooves between its scales.

This also occurs when it rains. The spines all over its body help deter predators and it has a "false head" on the back of its neck that it uses to distract potential predators by dipping its real head.

Answer: False

While it's true that the Gila monster has developed a frightening reputation that it does not deserve, a bite from one, while unlikely to be fatal, is no laughing matter. The venom is actually very potent, and people have described the pain resulting from a bite as excruciating.

For example, in 1891, Dr. George Goodfellow, a noted physician and naturalist in the American Old West studied Gila monsters and deliberately provoked one to bite him on the finger. He became ill and spent the next five days in bed, although he recovered fully. Gila monsters are not particularly aggressive though and will normally avoid people if left alone.

It was once thought that the Gila Monster and the closely related Mexican beaded lizard were the only two poisonous species of lizards in the world.

However, since 2005 it has been discovered that several other species, such as monitor lizards (e.g., the Komodo dragon), have venom which they can inject into their prey.

Answer: In trees

Also known as frilled dragons or frill-necks, the frilled lizard is best known for its distinctive defence mechanism in which it opens its mouth wide and raises its colourful frill when threatened to appear much larger than it really is. They also have the ability to run quickly on two legs.

They typically prefer to spend most of their time in the trees, where their colouration provides them with camouflage. They do come down to the ground when necessary, such as when looking for food or mates. During mating season, males will fight for mates, which involves displaying their frills and biting each other.

Answer: Hispaniola

The range of the rhinoceros iguana extends throughout Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola. They are under threat because of deforestation and land clearing. The bony "horns" and other bulges around the snout may act as protective armour against sharp rocks or be used defensively by males to escape from the grasp of other males. Like most iguanas, they are primarily herbivorous, although they will occasionally prey opportunistically on small lizards, snakes, and insects.

They are a moderately large lizard and, when defending themselves, they may bite aggressively or strike with their thick tails.

Answer: True

There are actually many species of blue-tongued lizards, also known as blue-tongued skinks, all of them in the genus Tiliqua. In Australia, the most well-known species is the aptly named the common blue-tongued lizard (Tiliqua scincoides), which is found throughout several regions of Australia, particularly the south-eastern coast, and is typically about 60 cm long.

When threatened, these lizards open their mouth wide and stick out their broad blue tongue that contrasts vividly with their pink mouth in an attempt to intimidate predators.

They may also hiss and flatten out their body to make themselves look bigger. Even though its tail is quite large, blue-tongued lizards, especially younger ones, do have the ability to drop it if it is roughly handled.

The dropped tail will wriggle and thrash about, which may distract predators, allowing the lizard to escape. The missing tail can later be regenerated.

Answer: East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania)

If your first thought was Madagascar that would be understandable as about half of the world's 150 species of chameleons are found there. However, Jackson's horned chameleon is native to high-altitude woodlands and forests in south-central Kenya and northern Tanzania.

They have also been introduced to Hawaii, where they are considered an invasive species that poses a threat to native invertebrates such as insects and snails. This chameleon is striking for the three horns that males have, which give it a slight resemblance to a Triceratops dinosaur. Females do not usually have any horns, although some have traces of a horn on the nose.

Although usually bright green, like all chameleons, they can change colour rapidly. For example, males will attempt to intimidate each other with colour displays. Like other chameleons, they have a prehensile tongue they can shoot out to catch their prey, and distinctive bulging eyes that can swivel and focus independently, allowing them to observe two different objects simultaneously.

Answer: Squirting blood from its eyes

These North American lizards are popularly known as horny toads because of their flattened, rounded bodies and blunt snouts, and their genus name Phrynosoma actually means "toad-bodied." Of course, they are reptiles not amphibians and, unlike toads, have dry waterproof skin that suits them well to dry and desert habitats.

They are also notable for being covered in spiny protrusions that include bony horns on their heads. Their tails are too small to be of much use in self-defence and they have no venom to spit.

However, they can aim a stream of blood from their eyes when threatened to distract predators when needed. Canine and feline predators find the blood foul tasting, so it can be an effective deterrent. They can do this by increasing the blood pressure in their heads, which causes special vessels in their eyes to burst, resulting in a stream of blood. (I have no idea if they find this painful or not, but it doesn't seem to do them any harm.) While there are a number of lizard species that can glide through the air, horned lizards are not among them.

Answer: Galápagos Islands

Marine iguanas feed exclusively on algae that they find in the sea. Larger males dive for algae, while females and smaller males forage at low tide. When not feeding they gather in colonies on rocky shores where they bask in the sun. They share the islands with the Galápagos land iguana, which they share a common ancestor with.

In fact, marine iguanas have been known on rare occasions to interbreed with land iguanas, although their hybrid offspring are sterile. Charles Darwin studied the lizards of the islands extensively and was famously disgusted by their appearance, which he described as "hideous." Oddly, he also described an incident in which he picked up a marine iguana several times and threw it as far as he could - for some reason, it kept returning to the spot where he found it, and he repeated the process several times. What inspired such mistreatment on his part is not entirely clear, although it is not behaviour I would recommend!

Answer: Parthenogenesis

Komodo dragons live on four Indonesian islands: Komodo, Flores, Rinca, and Gili Motang. (Amazingly, they are capable of swimming the long distances between these islands!) Female Komodo dragons are ready to mate once a year. During this time, they produce a scent in their faeces that attracts males. If there are several males around, these will wrestle each other for mating rights. However, if there are none around, the female can make do without! This has been observed in zoo animals in which a female Komodo dragon was housed without access to a male for an extended period. When parthenogenesis occurs in Komodo dragons, only male offspring are produced. This is because females have two chromosomes called Z and W. When two Z chromosomes are duplicated within an egg cell, a viable male can be conceived, while duplicating a W chromosome does not produce anything viable. (This is in contrast to mammals, in which females have two X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y chromosome.) Parthenogenesis is from a Greek expression that may be translated as "virgin birth" (although the mother need not be an actual virgin). Although rare in vertebrates, parthenogenesis has been observed in a number of lizard species. In fact, there is even a lizard species called the New Mexico whiptail in which all individuals are female and parthenogenesis is the exclusive mode of reproduction!

Apomixis is a form of asexual reproduction found in certain plants. Hermaphroditism refers to species wherein individuals are both male and female. Fissiparity occurs in starfish, wherein an individual can be torn into two or more pieces and these can regenerate into complete new individuals.