lizards

Egg Size Matters In Lizards Sex

harminka — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:46:19 -0500

Whether baby lizards will turn out to be male or female is a more complicated question than scientists would have ever guessed, according to a new report published online on June 4th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The study shows that for at least one lizard species, egg size matters.

Native Lizards Evolve to Escape Attacks by Fire Ants

harminka — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:03:37 -0600

Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Tracy Langkilde has shown that native fence lizards in the southeastern United States are adapting to potentially fatal invasive fire-ant attacks by developing behaviors that enable them to escape from the ants, as well as by developing longer hind legs, which can increase the effectiveness of this behavior.

Reptile fossil reignites debate over New Zealand submergence

harminka — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:53:02 -0600

The fossil of a lizard-like New Zealand reptile has been identified by a team of scientists from UCL (University College London), University of Adelaide, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

New gecko-like adhesive shakes off dirt

harminka — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:38:17 -0500

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are continuing their march toward creating a synthetic, gecko-like adhesive, one sticky step at a time. Their latest milestone is the first adhesive that cleans itself after each use without the need for water or chemicals, much like the remarkable hairs found on the gecko lizard's toes.

Feats of strength begin a lizard's day

harminka — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:46:09 -0500

Male Jamaican anole lizards begin and end the day with displays of reptilian strength -- push-ups, head bobs and extensions of a colorful neck flap, or dewlap -- to defend their territory, according to a new study.

Lizards pull wheelie

harminka — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:52:24 -0500

Why bother running on hind legs when the four you've been given work perfectly well? This is the question that puzzles Christofer Clemente. For birds and primates, there's a perfectly good answer: birds have converted their forelimbs into wings, and primates have better things to do with their hands.

New family of gecko discovered

harminka — Fri, 23 May 2008 06:36:14 -0500

Researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural History and Pennsylvania’s Villanova University have discovered a new family of gecko, the charismatic large-eyed lizard popularized by car insurance commercials.

Variety is the spice of life

harminka — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:23:17 -0500

Female Australian painted dragon lizards are polyandrous, that is, they mate with as many males as they can safely get access to. This promiscuous behaviour is often found in species where male quality is dubious and there are high levels of infertility in the male population.

Lizard hunting styles impact ability to walk, run

harminka — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:14:17 -0500

The technique lizards use to grab their grub influences how they move, according to researchers at Ohio University.

Why are some groups of animals so diverse?

harminka — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:00:02 -0500

A new study of finger-sized Australian lizards sheds light on one of the most striking yet largely unexplained patterns in nature: why is it that some groups of animals have evolved into hundreds, even thousands of species, while other groups include only a few?

Lizard moms dress their children for success

harminka — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 06:56:42 -0500

Mothers know best when it comes to dressing their children, at least among side-blotched lizards, a common species in the western United States. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have found that female side-blotched lizards are able to induce different color patterns in their offspring in response to social cues, "dressing" their progeny in patterns they will wear for the rest of their lives.

Lizards survey reveals abundance of animals on islands

harminka — Tue, 01 May 2007 11:38:51 -0500

A comprehensive survey of lizards on islands around the world has confirmed what island biologists and seafaring explorers have long observed: Animals on islands are much more abundant than their counterparts on the mainland.