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Noticing more lizards running around? Here's the likely reason
Alligator lizards can be found up and down the West Coast of the U.S.
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Diego Blanco
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iNaturalist
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Early lizard season in SoCal carries risks for the reptiles
Especially if this hot weather returns to seasonal norms and sends the lizards back into semi-hibernation.
Topline:
If you think you’re seeing more lizards than you normally do during this time of year, you’re probably correct. Common alligator, Western fence and side-blotched lizards all seem to be out and about a month earlier than they normally would due to recent unusually hot days.
Why now: Lizards are cold-blooded, meaning their activity and metabolism is tied to the temperature around them. Normally, lizards remain in a state of torpor from around late October to the middle of April, until temperatures warm.
The risk: When they emerge from their semi-hibernation, females are often looking to bulk up so that they can successfully lay eggs. If they wake up too early, the late-spring abundance of insects may not be available, raising the risk of a food shortage that could negatively affect their reproduction.
UCLA's Brad Shaffer is bitten by an alligator lizard that wandered into his office on a hot March day.
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Brad Shaffer
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UCLA
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If cold weather comes back: The lizards may enter a state of torpor yet again. However, because their metabolism slows during cold weather, if they’ve recently eaten a large meal, dead insects may just sit in their stomachs — rotting, undigested. In that case, they can die.
Expert reaction: “ Their physiology, their behavior, everything about them is tied to temperature,” said UCLA professor Brad Shaffer, who had an alligator lizard sneak into his lab on a scorching 90-degree day. He added: “Climate change … can disrupt relatively well tuned systems where plants come out, insects come out and … the lizards that feed on them come out.”
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