The lizards in these photos are Western Side-blotched Lizards, Uta stansburiana elegans.I rarely am
The lizards in these photos are Western Side-blotched Lizards, Uta stansburiana elegans.I rarely am in side-blotched habitat, these are the only three photos of the species I have ever taken. The top one I believe is a male, the other two I believe are female. They are however one of my favorite species, and here’s why: The species has four different genders we can identify. One of those genders is biologically female, the other three are biologically male.Within the biological male gender, when they have orange throats - they are “Alpha Male” gender. They have large territories with lots of females.When they have blue throats, like the male at the top of the photo, they have smaller territories with one female - but often work in pairs to “steal” a female from an orange throat, and they work in pairs to defend their smaller territories.When they steal a female, one will be bait for the alpha to chase while the other plays Marvin Gaye to swoon one of the Alpha’s females.When they have yellow throats, they are often called “Sneakers” or “Sneaker Fuckers” - they don’t have a territory but sneak into the territory of another male to mate with the females.It also appears they sometimes pretend to be female and part of an Alpha’s harem to be avoid being chased off by the Orange throated Alpha.Which gender they fall into is genetic, and some populations do not have all three types of males.I would love to spend some time in their habitat photographing them and observing their behavior.While there are historic records from near where my parents live in East Contra Costa, that population seems to be extirpated. I have heard they are still on Mount Diablo but in small quantity. SoCal seems to be where the healthiest populations are, and are where my three encounters come from:http://www.naherp.com/search.php?r_owner=25&r_group=4&r_genus=2897 -- source link