Photo by Wilfried Berns \/ www.Tiermotive.de<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nArmoured for Protection<\/h2>\n
Although their life may seem easy, the Giant Girdled Lizard is a prime target for numerous predators scattered throughout their home range. Well, they would be a prime target, if they weren’t covered in spines. Particularly, the whorl of large spines on their tail provide the Giant Girdled Lizard with a very effective self-defence mechanism. When threatened, this lizard will typically escape to their burrow but as they exit down into their home, they make sure to wave goodbye with their deadly tail. This usually persuades the attacker not to continue the chase into the underground shelter.<\/p>\n
A Decreasing Population<\/h2>\n
Even with a suit of sharp spines, the Giant Girdled Lizard, isn’t protected from humans. They are listed as vulnerable with the main threats being the illegal pet trade and habitat destruction. It doesn’t help that they have an incredibly slow reproduction rate, giving birth to one or two offspring every 2 years. To make matters even worse, the Giant Girdled Lizard will not breed in captivity, so if we want to ensure the survival of this species, we need to stop destroying their habitat and selling them on the black market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A lot of you may be heading back to work today after a nice relaxing, long weekend, unless you have kids….as a house of children full of chocolate was probably anything but relaxing. In fact, you may be looking forward to just sitting down with your cup of coffee as your imagination takes you to Africa where we will learn about the incredible Giant Girdled Lizard, also known as a Sungazer, Giant Spiny-Tailed Lizard or Giant Zonure. No matter what you call them, you are only going to find this reptile hanging out in the silty soils of the Themeda <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4024,52],"tags":[348,2951,363,4025,4114,2952,2928,2954,2953],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>