Common chuckwalla
Sauromalus ater
— Where the name comes from
Sauromalus is “flat lizard”, from saûros and homalós, for the broad body and the loose skin hanging at the flanks; ater means “black”. Chuckwalla is the Spanish transcription of chackwal, the animal’s name in the language of the Cahuilla of California: one of the few indigenous North American terms to have entered everyday speech along with the animal it names.
— Facts
- Group
- Reptiles · Reptilia
- Order
- Squamates
- Habitat
- Rock outcrops and lava fields of the desert
- Range
- The south-western United States and north-western Mexico
- Size
- 35–45 cm including the tail, 200–900 g
- Diet
- Leaves, flowers and fruit of desert plants
- Lifespan
- 25 years
— Characteristics
- 01
It is almost entirely vegetarian.
- 02
It has nasal glands that expel excess salt with a sneeze.
- 03
It spends the hottest hours in shade among the boulders, emerging only when it is hot.
— What sets it apart
Pursued, it slips into a crack between two rocks and inflates. Filling its lungs it increases its volume by nearly half and wedges itself so firmly that extracting it is impossible without breaking the rock: the Seri of Baja California, who ate it, had a hooked stick made specially to puncture and deflate it. It is a defence that needs neither speed nor venom, only a deep breath and a crevice of the right size.
