the.com/sand lizard
a British rarity that bodybuilds its babies' eggs and turns neon green for romance
means A rare, stocky lizard (Lacerta agilis) of European heathland and dunes, the males of which flush bright green during the breeding season; in Britain it's a protected and localised species.
from A plain descriptive English compound: "sand" for the loose, sun-warmed dune and heath soils it favours, plus "lizard." That second word travelled a long road — from Latin lacerta (lizard) through Old French lesarde into Middle English — and shares a murky kinship, in folk imagination at least, with "alligator" (from Spanish el lagarto, "the lizard"). The Latin species name agilis, "nimble," simply records how quickly it darts from danger.
- sex reveal
- Egg temperature decides whether hatchlings become male or female
- green machine
- Males flush emerald along their flanks for breeding season
- legal VIP
- Strictly protected under UK and European law
- sun powered
- Eggs incubate in warm sand, not on a parent
- comeback kid
- Captive breeding reintroduced them to vanished British heaths
lacerta agilis — european species found across sandy heathlands from britain to japan, up to 24cm long
uma inornata — mojave fringe-toed lizard living in california sand dunes with fringed toes for sand locomotion