Facts about oriental garden lizard

                  Oriental garden lizard 🦎

1. Scientific name: Calotes versicolor

2. Common name : Oriental garden lizard

3. Conservation status: Least Concern

4. Size: 10 cm (snout to vent) and total length including tail is up to 37.5 cm.

5. General informations:

• A harmless, non poisonous little lizard that keeps our gardens pest free by eating insects.

• Unlike some other lizards, they do not use their tails (autonomy) and their tails can be very long, stiff and pointy.

• They are oviparous, 10-20 are laid and are buried in moist soil. Hatching period is about 6 to 7 weeks.

• 39 to 43 series of scales round the middle of the trunk.

• Both male and females have crest from head to tail so they are often called “crested lizard”.

6. Some Common questions about oriental garden lizards:

• Are oriental garden lizards harmful to humans?

While they are often called bloodsuckers (roktochosha in Bengali), oriental garden lizards do not suck blood or attack or harm humans.

• What do oriental garden lizards eat?

Their diet consists of grasshoppers, crickets, ants, small geckos, small vertebrates, and occasionally includes vegetable matter.

• Photographs and details: Mohit Patel

• Reference:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_garden_lizard

https://roundglasssustain.com/species/oriental-garden-lizard

https://roundglasssustain.com/infographics/oriental-garden-lizard-facts