Reptile still new to the world
Al Crisalli Jr. took this photo in the Tehachapi Valley of a juvenile Woodland Alligator Lizard on an old fallen tree trunk, with flowering California Buckwheat visible in the background.
The zoological name is Elgaria multicarinata webbii, and it is the subspecies of Southern Alligator Lizard found in the Tehachapi Mountains. Woodland Alligator Lizard is a more appropriate name than the previous official common name, which was San Diego Alligator Lizard.
Alligator lizards are typically active during the day, though they seldom bask in the sun on rocks like other lizards like to do. They get their common name from their thick-bodied, prominently-scaled appearance, and they do often bite, though a bite from one of these lizards is more of a pinch, since their teeth are tiny.
A typical defensive response
from an Alligator Lizard when you pick it up is this: they bite your finger, and may also defecate and try to smear poop on you. This may explain why they are not in great demand as pets.
Alligator Lizards eat a variety of small invertebrates
and also will also eat other small lizards or bird eggs if they get the chance. When young they have exceptionally long tails, but these often get broken off eventually and the replacement tail that the lizard re-grows is seldom as long as the original.
An Alligator Lizard can voluntarily detach its tail when threatened, and the wriggling tail serves to distract a predator while the lizard itself escapes into dense underbrush or a crevice.
Alligator Lizards have large heads and small legs in relation to their body and they tend to move with an undulating, snakelike motion.
NATURAL SIGHTINGS is a regular feature of the Tehachapi News edited by Jon Hammond which showcases photos of the natural beauty that enhances the quality of life in Tehachapi. If you have a good quality image of plants, animals, insects, trees, birds, weather phenomena, etc., taken in the Tehachapi area, you may submit it to the Tehachapi News for possible publication. Submissions can be dropped by the News office in the form of a print or CD, or sent by email to: editorial@tehachapinews.com.