CURLY-TAILED LIZARDS ON ABACO, BAHAMAS

WORLD REPTILE AWARENESS DAY Oct 21

These days few creatures go without an Annual Day: Awareness / Appreciation / Protection / Support / and so on. These are obviously important and to be encouraged. In human terms the creatures tend to have a positive image. There’s little call for a Fire Ant Welfare Day.  I am slightly concerned about World Earthworm day, also on Oct 21. Aren’t they food for some of the reptiles that share the day?

The northern curly-tailed lizard Leiocephalus carinatus, to give it its full name, resembles a tiny dragon with a twist in the tail. These little critters bask in the sun, or scuttle away into holes and crevices as you approach them. I suspect that even a confirmed herpophobic would find some charm in them. They are, of course, completely harmless to humans. 

Surprisingly, the Bahamas is home not just to one but five different curly-tail species, and nine sub-species. Broadly-speaking, the variants are found on different and specific islands and have discrete local markings. Mostly they are brownish, but they may also be grey or with a greenish tinge like this one I recently photographed.

Curly-tail males, being territorial, turn somewhat aggressive around breeding time, which is basically most the the year, from February to October. Behaviours indicative of their territorial claims include tail curling / uncurling (of course), head-bobbing, strutting about in an agitated way and inflating the sides of their necks in a threatening kind of way. The tiny-tails, 2″ long when born, are known as ‘hatchlings’.

An impressive poolside ‘double curly’

THREATS TO CURLY TAILS

According to the Bahamas National Trust BNT, the main dangers to the curly-tails of the Bahamas are:

• Dogs, cats, rats and introduced predators such as raccoons
• Collection for the pet trade – curly tails are unprotected by CITES listing (also cute)
• Collection of the rarer endemics by reptile enthusiasts seeking ‘exotics’
• Development and habitat destruction (though it is noted that curly tails seem to adjust quite well in developed areas)

A curly tails sloughs its skin as it grows, as with snakes and other reptiles

WHY THE CURLY TAIL?

• As mentioned above, for use in territorial posturing
• In courtship displays by males to attract females (luckily a method not available to humans)
• As a response to predators, confusing an attacker with movement at both ends
• As a last resort, to detach to aid escape (the tail re-grows)
• For fun and just because they can grow one and you cannot

Credits: all photos, Keith Salvesen except #2 & #6, Charles Skinner; BNT