This discovery in the garden made me laugh. Our young male California desert tortoise has a friend. Can you spot it?
Yes, there is a young western fence lizard sitting on the tortoise's back. They were both basking in the morning sun. You might think the lizard had mistaken the tortoise for a rock. But I don't think so. When the tortoise walked, the lizard held on. Later in the day, the two were in a different location by side-by-side.
Interested in turtles and tortoises? I recommend Life in a Shell.
We think of lizards as individual creatures, loners. For some lizards that lifestyle is true, like the lace monitor that we saw in Australia. Yet the social life of most lizards is unknown.
Western fence lizards are thought to be territorial, keeping other individuals out of their area unless there is reproduction in the air. But I am starting to wonder about the notion of lone individuals.
These two lizards not only have been sitting on the wall together, when they dashed off the wall they went in the same direction. Baby fence lizards hatched out of their eggs over a week ago after weeks of incubation. Are the adults still in the mating mood? I'm not sure.
More investigation is needed here.
