Description
Adult beaded lizards range from 24 to 36 inches (61 to 91 cm) in length. It is substantially larger than the Gila monster, which only reaches lengths of 12 to 16 inches (30 to 41 cm). Although males are slightly larger than females, the animals are not sexually dimorphic. Both males and females are stocky with broad heads, although the males tend to be broader. The beaded lizard's scales are small, bead-like and non-overlapping. Except for the underside of the animal, the majority of its scales are underlaid with bony osteoderms.
Their base color is black and marked with varying amounts of yellow spots or bands, with the exception of H. h. alvarezi, which tends to be all black in color. The beaded lizard has a short tail which is used to store fat so the animal can survive during months of estivation. Unlike many other lizards, this tail does not autotomize and cannot grow back if broken. The beaded lizard has a forked black tongue which it uses to smell, with the help of a Jacobson's organ; it sticks its tongue out to gather scents and touches it to the opening of the organ when the tongue is retracted.
Read more about this topic: Beaded Lizard
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.”
—Oscar Wilde (18541900)
“Whose are the truly labored sentences? From the weak and flimsy periods of the politician and literary man, we are glad to turn even to the description of work, the simple record of the months labor in the farmers almanac, to restore our tone and spirits.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a global village instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacles present vulgarity.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)