Species:
Gambelia wislizenii
Long-nosed Leopard Lizard
Some other names for this species:
Longnose Leopard Lizard
June 22, 1998
Desert Tortoise Natural Area, Kern County, California
We were saddened to discover that we were too late in the season to see any desert tortoises at the Desert Tortoise Natural Area (they were whiling away the hot summer in their cool burrows). But when we started driving away on the dirt road, we were greeted with two beautiful leopard lizards to make up for it. This one is an adult; the other was a juvenile.
May 28, 1999
Desert Tortoise Natural Area, Kern County, California
Eleven months later, we tried again to find desert tortoises at the Desert Tortoise Natural Area, but we were foiled once more. Apparently 1999 was a low-tortoise-activity year since the previous winter and spring had been abnormally dry. Still, we saw lots of other interesting animals, including this gravid female leopard lizard showing her breeding season colors. She was hanging out in the shade of a small bush, awaiting passing edibles.
September 13, 2003
Alabama Hills, Inyo County, California
This was a good trip for young leopard lizards; I saw five in three days. They're pretty wary, so you generally have to recognize them either as they run away, or from a long way off, or both. I spotted this one from about 100 feet away while driving past on a bumpy road. Though several species of lizards hang out on the rocks strewn across the desert floor here, the glimpse of silhouette was enough for me to distinguish a leopard lizard from the much more common side-blotched lizards, fence lizards, and desert spiny lizards that also inhabit the local rock-tops.
September 15, 2003
Fossil Falls, Kern County, California
When I first saw this leopard lizard from a distance, I was sure it was a collared lizard instead. Collared lizards are typically found perched on boulders like this, but leopard lizards are typically found on the ground. And indeed, a collared lizard was perched on a boulder less than fifty feet away. Maybe the leopard lizard was orphaned at birth and adopted by a friendly tribe of collared lizards, so it grew up to learn their ways? Naaaaaah.
