In the deserts of central and western Australia lives an unusual reptile - Moloch. This lizard looks very impressive. The first of the scientists was impressed by John Gray, who in 1840 caught and described this interesting animal. He was even able to bring one specimen to Europe to demonstrate to colleagues.
What are lizards?
Australian Aborigines would not mind much if they learned that a visiting European called the animal "Moloch". The lizard in their view is generally a horned devil. So she had no chance at all for some cute name.
Judge for yourself: 22 centimeters of short spikes and sharp spines, a horn above each eye, spikes around the head and neck form a kind of Spanish collar that makes a small flat head visually larger. Spines and horny shields are everywhere, even on short, curved legs and abdomen. This is a walking cactus, and not a lizard se-wa agam, as the encyclopedia claims.
Color
Moloch's coloration is protective, under the red-yellow-brown soils of the Australian deserts, therefore it is very bright, even beautiful. From above the body is brown, with red or orange. All colored spots and stripes are strictly symmetrical and fold intointeresting pattern. The belly and underside of the tail also have a pattern of colored stripes and diamonds.
This lizard is also interesting for its ability to change skin tones depending on the ambient temperature. Of course, it cannot be called a desert chameleon. But the color changes are obvious. Professor R. Mertens, who observed the Molochs in Australia, noted that in the morning, while the air temperature is only approaching 30 ° C, the lizards are still greenish-gray. Moreover, the olive shade is very saturated. But a few minutes pass, the sunlight becomes brighter, the temperature is higher, and yellow-brown moloch is already sitting on the ground. The lizard will retain this coloration until dark and temperatures drop.
Buried in the sand
They chose desert sandy soils to live in. They can completely burrow into the ground. The flat body easily goes into the sand from fast movements. How so? Such scary animals, is there a need to burrow into the sand?
Outwardly they are ugly, but they can not cause any harm to anyone. Unless ants, which are eaten up to several thousand per day. Settling down near the ant trail, they pick them up with their sticky tongue.
An interesting feature
They are so slow and harmless that nature gave them a second head as a defense against enemies. It is well known that any lizard can be saved if the enemy grabbed it by the tail. She will easily part with him, and then the tail will grow back. But this is not our Moloch (lizard). Fake head - that's what he won't hesitate to giveattacked by a predator. Having tilted the real one lower, Moloch exposes the enemy under the teeth with horn-like growths on the neck, which save him. By the way, maybe that's why it was once believed that Molochs are scary animals. You can really think so, because they bit off his head, but he remained alive. So what to do? You have to contrive, otherwise you won’t live 20 years when there are monitor lizards, snakes, birds all around - and they are all faster, stronger and larger.
Accumulation
Usually, the inhabitants of deserts and semi-deserts have a secret of accumulating or saving water. Moloch also has this. The lizard can store moisture due to the hygroscopicity of its skin: numerous spines significantly increase its surface. The entire skin area of a 22 cm reptile absorbs water.
And it increases significantly in size, by about 30 percent. Scientists could only learn and understand how Moloch then spends this moisture with the help of modern devices. Microscopic canals pass under the keratinized shields, through which water, as needed, moves into the mouth of the miracle lizard. With the onset of the driest periods, Moloch hides in the sand and hibernates.
Mating
In the spring, which begins in September in the southern hemisphere, males begin to search for a sexually mature female. Since reptiles do not form pairs, after fertilization, the female independently finds a suitable hole, where she lays up to 10 eggs. She will mask the masonry and bury it almost the whole day. It will take about 100-130 days,before the little and completely helpless "horned devils" hatch. True, what kind of devils are there if their length is half a centimeter and their weight is 2 grams? First, they will feed on the shells from the eggs they hatched from, then they will begin to climb to the surface. Molochs grow slowly until they reach puberty and the prescribed 22 centimeters of growth, 5 years will pass.
Such a long growing up is not good for lizards. Australian zoologists are forced to fence masonry, which gives young molochs the opportunity to leave them alive and he althy. For now, this work allows you to save the only representative of this interesting species.
