Trivia question for Apr-11-2011
Olivia took awhile to decide on today’s species. Let’s see if you know who this is. These are large lizards who are powerful predators which are equally at home on the ground, in water, and in trees. They are extremely well versed at tracking down prey and eggs by flicking its forked tongue to pick up airborne scent particles.
Most of these lizards are opportunistic feeders, accepting a wide variety of foods. Their diets can consist of crickets, mealworms, an occasional mouse, fish, hard boiled eggs, chicken, etc. Certain fruits and vegetables may be offered as well (for example, strawberries, mangoes, papayas, bananas) but usually will only be eaten by the red or Argentinian black and white version of these guys. The Colombian version tend to be almost entirely carnivores/insectivores. Dairy products should never be given to reptiles, since they lack the ability to digest lactose (only mammals can do that).
So here are Olivia’s questions: Tell us why these guys sometimes lay their eggs in the middle of a termite mound? Also the Argentinean version of these guys does something very peculiar which is done by no other lizard in the world, tell us what that is?
Good Luck 😉
Answer:
Wow, Olivia finally had a stumper… we had lot’s of guesses but no one got it correct (Olivia is all smiles). The lizard we featured is the Common Tegu. The common Tegu is a lizard which contains seven described species. The large, South American lizards are commonly referred to as tegus. They are one of the worlds largest lizards and actually fill the same ecological niche as small mammalian predators… wow!
The reason these guys sometimes lay their eggs in termite mounds is to exploit its stable, protective conditions. The Argentine giant tegu, a close relative of the common tegu, is the only lizard that builds a nest. It uses dry grasses and other dead vegetation to build the nest. How cool is that… considering its a lizard? Here is more on these cool guys: Common Tegu
Thanks for playing along 😉
