If you’re in the desert in the boiling summer heat, you may find you are not the only crazy creature out and about.
By ITSIK MAROMLizard 521(photo credit: Itsik Marom)
Granted, it’s not a common occurrence for the average person. But if you should find yourself in the Negev desert or the Arava in the summer months – thinking that no sensible soul would want to spend time outside in those boiling midday temperatures – you may be surprised to learn that you are not the only crazy creature moving about there.For a slender reptile by the name of Agama Sinaita (hardon sinai), this landscape is paradise.This 25-centimeter-long lizard is very fast, catching its prey of small insects and other invertebrates by sudden quick attack.
Wearing its gray-brown camouflage, it is hard to spot when motionless, a position it adopts during most of the year. But it possesses the ability to change color to blue in a matter of seconds.In the mating season, the male chooses exposed rocks within its territory, showing its colors to both rival males and potential females. It attempts to keep the males away while attracting the females. A female already carrying eggs will announce that she is out of the game by changing her head color to blue. This change, and the distance she keeps, makes the male think she is another male, and lose interest.In the summer, after the mating season is over, both male and the female don their regular gray-brown suits once more and remain solitary in their territory for the rest of the year.If you have the time and patience, you can move very close to this lizard. Since it is limited to the borders of its own territory and will explore any intruder or movement on it, all you have to do is sit still. Sooner or later, the lizard will come towards you.
Related Tagsinsects
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
