LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Lizards
built 169 days ago
Lizards are cold-blooded and begin the day with a body temperature that is too low for much activity, and they must bask in the sun to increase their body temperature. While basking in the sun they stand sideways to it and flatten and tilt their bodies to maximize heat intake. They can ... spread their bodies and change their skin colour from light to dark to increase heat intake. However, in hot desert areas lizards run the risk of overheating and have also developed ways of losing heat.
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Lizards are part of a group of animals known as reptiles. They are most closely related to snakes. In fact, some lizards look like snakes because they have no legs! Many lizards today resemble the ancient reptiles of the dinosaur era. Their ancestors appeared on Earth over 200 million years ago. In general, lizards have a small head, short neck, and long body and tail.
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Lizards typically have four legs with five toes on each foot, although a few, such as the worm lizard and the so-called glass snake, are limbless, retaining only internal vestiges of legs. Lizards are ... distinguished from snakes by having ear openings, movable eyelids, and less flexible jaws. As in snakes, there is a chemosensory organ opening in the roof of the mouth. The tongue, which may be short and wide, slender and forked, or highly extendible, conveys particles from the environment to this organ. The skin of the lizard is scaly and in most species is molted in irregular patches. Members of several lizard families, notably the chameleons, undergo color changes under the influence of environmental and emotional stimuli.
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Lizards have dry, scaly skin that does not grow with their bodies. So lizards will shed, or molt, their old skin in large flakes to make way for the new skin growth underneath. The scales on lizards vary, depending on their habitat. Skinks have smooth scales so mud won’t cling to them; others have bony plates under their scales for added protection from rough terrain.
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Lizards divide up environmental resources in three major ways: by being active at different times, by spending time in different places, and by eating different foods. Such ecological differences reduce competition, allowing coexistence. Many lizard species are food generalists, eating a wide variety of arthropods. However, some other species of lizards are dietary specialists, with certain species eating only ants, others termites, and still others almost nothing except other lizards. One species, Pygopus nigriceps, preys heavily on scorpions. Like the North American iguanid horned lizards (genus Phrynosoma), the Australian agamid Moloch horridus eats virtually nothing but ants.
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Lizards move in a variety of ways, depending on body structure and habitat. The collared lizard and the basilisk run quickly on well-developed hind legs. Geckos have scaled disks on each toe that allow them to cling to smooth surfaces. Some lizards are good swimmers, and a number are adapted for climbing trees.
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