THE MYSTERY OF THE SHORT CHUBBY SNAKE

I was perplexed when I saw it.  It looked like a short chubby snake and my brain convinced me that it was dead and had magically been broken in half.  But, it’s upper body was lifted above the ground.  In my experience, dead snakes don’t have their upper bodies lifted above the ground.  Of course, I had to inspect.  Then it squiggled away – confirmation of “not dead”.  Before it vanished, I got a good enough look to determine it was a western slender glass lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus) once I dug out my handy dandy field guide (FYI-the biologist with the most field guides when they die WINS).  The western slender glass lizard is a legless lizard!  It has eyelids that can blink and ear openings, making it “easily” distinguished from a snake.  So, why was it short and chubby?  Like many other lizards the tail can break off during an attack.  The tail will wiggle and distract the would-be catcher while the lizard gets away.  For those of us who tried to sneak up and catch lizards as kids… you have seen this in action!  The lizard can regrow the lost tail, but it apparently is never as long and fabulous as it once was… hence the mystery is solved.