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Collard lizards prefer rocky habitats with crevices and boulders that provide cover in the desert.
photo: Tom Gillespie
Characteristics: Collard lizards typically measure 8-14 inches in length and possess a black and white “collar” on the back of their neck. Reaching speeds of 16 miles per hour, this is one of the fastest lizards in the desert. When escaping predators they lift their tails and run on their hind legs.
Diet: These aggressive lizards hunt insects and lizards, including other collard lizards.
Reproduction: Pregnant females develop bright markings on their sides. They typically lay 1-12 eggs in midsummer.
Environmental Connections: Collard lizards prefer rocky habitats with crevices and boulders that provide cover in the desert. Often thought of as barren wastelands, deserts are actually rich ecosystems teeming with biodiversity. Desert plants and animals have developed unique ways to use sporadic, unpredictable rainfall to their advantage. Despite the adaptability of its flora and fauna, this fragile ecosystem can easily be thrown off balance.
Human encroachment threatens desert ecosystems globally. Water diversion for dams and hydroelectric plants deplete deserts of precious water. Overgrazing, human development and tourism destroy natural soils and vegetation needed to keep this ecosystem in balance.
Protecting Collard lizards means preserving the habitats in which they live. No ecosystem stands alone so it is important that we work to protect ecosystems on a global level.
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N.C. Zoo is a member institution of AZA and an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr. Secretary; Michael F. Easley, Governor. A part of the North Carolina Government portal.
The Zoo is closed Christmas day and during severe weather. Call our information line at: 1-800-488-0444.
