Ecological Popcorn: Juvenile Yarrow’s spiny lizard

Lizards are important to our ecosystems, they can act as indicator species, letting us know when there’s something wrong in the environment. They’re also important in nutrient cycling, acting as predators and prey.

Each year, female Yarrow’s spiny lizard give birth 2-14 per year. It is important that they have many young per clutch as the juveniles become prey as soon as they are born. Everything eats them from mammals, snakes, birds, and other lizards! For these reason’s my undergrad advisor Dr. George Middendorf called them ecological popcorn.

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