Australia has long been known for their interesting wildlife and in the world of lizards, they come in a strong first throughout the world. Perhaps no other place on earth contains as many strange lizards as Australia. There are three lizards in particular in Australia that seem to be either stuck or advanced on the evolutionary chain.
The Frilled Lizard – This lizard is perhaps the closest thing visually to a dinosaur on the planet. The frilled lizard has a fairly innocent appearance when first encountered. They are grey to black and only grow to about 28 inches or so. They are extremely fast, and can chase their insect prey easily up trees as well as across the ground. What makes the frilled lizard so interesting is when they feel threatened, they spread open a frill on either side of their head and make a loud hissing noise. This frill is bright in color, which is in complete contrast to the rest of their bodies. The combination of the frill flipping open and the hissing scares off any possible predators, in spite of the fact that the lizard is largely harmless. The frilled lizard is found primarily in Northern Australia and New Guinea.
The Thorny Devil – When it comes to amazing animals the thorny devil is among the top choices. This little lizard only grows to about seven inches, and their entire dinner menu consists of ants. Oddly, the thorny devil will walk along and stab each single ant by throwing their tongue out at amazing speeds. They will eat huge numbers of ants at one feeding, as they eat what they can when they come across them. What is truly amazing about the thorny devil is, well…the thorns. The thorny devil is covered on every part of their body with thorns. This helps with keeping the lizard hidden as well as preventing their molestation once they are found. This, however, is not the main purpose of these thorns. The thorns actually take rainwater and channel it into grooves in the skin that then take the water to the lizards mouth. This means the thorny devil, in spite of living in some of the hottest areas of the world, never needs to drink from streams or ponds. They get plenty of rainwater.
Burton’s Snake Lizard – Now this is a strange lizard. The thing that makes this lizard unique is that the vast majority of people would think that it was not a lizard at all. It looks like a snake, and even kills and eats like a snake. The Burton’s snake lizard will wiggle it’s tail to lure in prey, and then strike from the other direction. This is a very common trick that snakes use to capture prey as well.