Here you'll learn all about Lizards, and more. I've even included a Lizard Classification Chart and a list of my favorite links to other sites.
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Picture above: THE REPTILE HUNTER IN A CREATIVE MOOD!
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ABOUT LIZARDS
Lizard is the common name for certain reptiles in the order that also contains snakes, amphisbaenians and the extinct mosasaurs. Lizards constitute the largest living group of reptiles, with more than 3000 species in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
Physical Characteristics:
Although lizards may resemble salamanders and other amphibians, they differ in that lizards have dry scaly skin, and most have clawed feet and external ear openings. Most lizards are small, with four legs and a long tail that in many species is fragile and easily broken but will regenerate; the tail of such arboreal species as the chameleon is adapted for grasping branches. The legs of some lizards are greatly shortened, or vestigial, making animals such as the glass lizard or slowworm snakelike in appearance; they are distinguished from true snakes by their movable eyelids and by differences in the structure of the skull bones, especially those of the lower jaw. The bones of the two halves of a lizard's jaw are firmly united; those of a snake are separable.
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, and the latter can also run across the surface of water using its greatly developed back legs and whiplike tail. The gecko has suction disks on its toes that enable it to cling to smooth surfaces. Some lizards are good swimmers, and a number are adapted for climbing trees.
