# Armadillo girdled lizard!!!



## Morelia_Hunter (Dec 13, 2007)

Just a pic of probably my favourite South African lizard or in the world. Cordylus cataphractus or the armadillo girdled lizerd is endemic to the SW cape and live in colonies of up to 40 individuals. They are live bearing and the babies are perfect replicas of the adults. They bite on their tail and roll themselves into a ball when threatened. They also hide amongst rock crevices and inflate their bodies so they cant be removed. These animals are CITES protected as is most of South Africas reptile species. 





















With permission from the owner of the photos.
Regards


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## bump73 (Dec 13, 2007)

LIVE BEARING:shock:

Ouch.... that would have to hurt:lol:

Very cool lizard though

Ben


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## Whisper2 (Dec 13, 2007)

that is the most adorable looking lizard i have ever seen!
it is so cute, i want one!!! chewing on its tail. how funny yet so so cute!
and i like the wedge in cracks bit. clever little creature!


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## Riley (Dec 13, 2007)

:shock:!:shock:!:shock:!:shock:!:shock:!:shock:

thorny devil #2


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## bitey (Dec 13, 2007)

Awesome, love its hiding technique.


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## Clairebear (Dec 13, 2007)

How gorgeous... i can't believe how cute that is! Thanks for the pics


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## deebo (Dec 13, 2007)

Thats crazy!! Is that a fully grown one you are holding?


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## Jonno from ERD (Dec 13, 2007)

Looks like a cross between a Shingleback, Gidgee Skink and Thorny Devil.


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## warren63 (Dec 13, 2007)

how amazing looking is that lizard


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## Retic (Dec 13, 2007)

They are an amazing lizard, I had some Crag Lizards years ago, they are Cordylus but can't remember the species name.


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## grimbeny (Dec 13, 2007)

Thats amazing, maybe this is where the myth of snakes biting there tail and rolling down hills comes from.


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## IsK67 (Dec 13, 2007)

Jonno from ERD said:


> Looks like a cross between a Shingleback, Gidgee Skink and Thorny Devil.



Must have been some party,,,,,,,


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## Joshua VW (Dec 13, 2007)

I was just looking at something about them last night.

They are so cute! They must have pretty tough tails.


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## method (Dec 13, 2007)

They look absolutely awesome, i want one D:


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## MannyM (Dec 13, 2007)

You'll see those guys if you check out that Dragons Alive doco. Incredibly interesting form of defence. Love how they roll into a ball. Also makes it hard for predators to take a nip out of their soft spot.


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## mattmc (Dec 13, 2007)

no offence to all aussie lizards but that would be in my top 5 fave lizards. SOOOO COOL


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## Kratos (Dec 17, 2007)

OMG thats almost as cool as a thorny devil.


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## kakariki (Dec 17, 2007)

Where can I get some??? They are unreal.


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## guff_man (Dec 30, 2007)

That is one of the coolest looking lizards if seen


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## Slateman (Feb 21, 2008)

Just an FYI - this thread has been featured on StumbleUpon as well as various blogs on the Internet and has received over 30,000 unique visits in the last 3 days. Congrats to Morelia_Hunter for taking some great pictures and drawing so much extra traffic to our little corner of the net.


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## Szepp (Feb 22, 2008)

Magnificent beastie!! Checked my old Bill Branch book on southern African reptiles, and it seems they are rare and only found in small part of RSA, so we are lucky to see the wee beautie.


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## Administrator (Feb 24, 2008)

Just hit the front page of reddit.com - we're up to about 100,000 views...


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## Administrator (Feb 25, 2008)

We've just hit the front page of digg (http://digg.com/pets_animals/This_Armadillo_Lizard_Really_Knows_How_to_Defend_Itself) - there's about 2000 guests viewing the post right now.


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## Just_Joshin (Feb 25, 2008)

Administrator said:


> We've just hit the front page of digg (http://digg.com/pets_animals/This_Armadillo_Lizard_Really_Knows_How_to_Defend_Itself) - there's about 2000 guests viewing the post right now.


That really cool to see that APS can get such publicity from around the globe all because of 1 little thread. Well done guys for having such a quality site and well done Morelia_Hunter for posting a thread interesting enough to get such a response.


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## Morelia_Hunter (Feb 25, 2008)

As I said, with permission from the owner of the photos. Also would not have been possible without the efforts of the Western Cape conservation authorities to protect this species. I am glad my country can still bost some of the worlds unique reptile species. All in the name of education!


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## Layzboy_6294 (Mar 14, 2008)

Hahaha, it looks like a Pokemon.


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