Camouflage and Bright Colors

I don’t know about you but I personally think most lizards are really beautiful. Whether they’re earth toned (browns, tans, dark greens) or jewel toned (bright blues, yellows, greens). But why are they colored this way?

It seems pretty counter intuitive that lizards, an easy prey item for snakes, birds, mammals, or even bigger lizards, to be brightly colored. But most species are color adapted to their environments. They also tend to have a mix of light and dark scales to break up their silhouettes which help them camouflage.

Take the above desert spiny lizard. It has a mix of bright brown/golden scales and darker scales to match it’s desert environment. You’ll also notice the bright blue and yellow scales on it’s throat and belly.

Those scales are so they may communicate with each other. The more saturated the color, the more dominate the male. They’ll push up and squeeze their bellies in so that they can flash the color to other lizards. A smart way to communicate when necessary but to stay inconspicuous to predators.

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