California Lizards and How to Find Them

About this book

The author of California Snakes and How to Find Them invites budding reptile enthusiasts into a wonderland of lizards.

Lizards: they are cute, endearing, and mind-bogglingly diverse, and yet they are so easy to overlook among California's natural abundance. Start watching them, though, and a wonderland of lizard life appears. In California Lizards and How to Find Them, lizard lover Emily Taylor profiles over 60 native and introduced species, from California's iconic Western Fence Lizard to the adorable Desert Iguana to the chonky Ringed Wall Gecko. With her expert knowledge and joyous, laugh-out-loud writing, Taylor provides tips for finding, watching, and responsibly catching lizards. She offers absorbing insights on lizard evolution, and she explains the toll of invasive lizard species on California's ecosystems. Featuring more than 100 full-colour photographs, and designed for easy use in everyday life, this is the ideal guide for budding reptile enthusiasts and longtime naturalists alike.

Contents

Preface
Introduction
Lizards in Wonderland: Why California Has So Many Lizards
What are Lizards?
A Tale of Two Lizards
How to Find and Watch Lizards in California
Catching Lizards: A Cautionary "Tail"

Family Anguidae
    Northern Alligator Lizard
    Southern Alligator Lizard
    Panamint Alligator Lizard
Family Anniellidae
    Legless Lizards
Family Chamaeleonidae
    Jackson's Chameleon
Family Crotaphytidae
    Great Basin Collared Lizard
    Baja California Collared Lizard
    Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard
    Long-nosed and Cope's Leopard Lizards
Family Dactyloidae
    Green Anole
    Brown Anole
Family Eublepharidae
    Switak's Banded Gecko
    Western Banded Gecko
Family Gekkonidae
    Rough-tailed Bowfoot Gecko
    House Geckos
Family Helodermatidae
    Gila Monster
    Family Iguanidae
    Desert Iguana
    Common Chuckwalla
Family Lacertidae
    Italian Wall Lizard
Family Phrynosomatidae
    Zebra-tailed Lizard
    Banded Rock Lizard
    Coast Horned Lizard
    Pygmy Short-horned Lizard
    Flat-tailed Horned Lizard
    Desert Horned Lizard
    Common Sagebrush Lizard
    Desert Spiny Lizard
    Fence Lizards
    Granite Spiny Lizard
    Fringe-toed Lizards
    Brush Lizards
    Ornate Tree Lizard
    Common Side-blotched Lizard
Family Phyllodactylidae
    Peninsula Leaf-toed Gecko
    Wall Geckos
    Family Scincidae
    Ocellated Skink
    Gilbert's Skink
    Western Skink
Family Teiidae
    Orange-throated Whiptail
    Non-native Whiptails
    Western Whiptail
Family Xantusiidae
    Sandstone and Granite Night Lizards
    Island Night Lizard
    Desert Night Lizard and Relatives

Acknowledgments
Recommended Further Reading
About the Author

Customer Reviews

Biography

Emily Taylor is a professor of biological sciences at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where she conducts research on the physiology, ecology, and conservation biology of lizards and snakes. Taylor is the founder of the community science initiative Project RattleCam and owner of Central Coast Snake Services. Her first book, California Snakes and How to Find Them, was published by Heyday in 2024. She lives in Atascadero with her husband, Steve, and their menagerie of rescue animals, including Pax the dog, Baby the boa constrictor, Aperol Spritz the bearded dragon, and rattlesnakes Buzz and Snakeholio.