Spot on the Yellow-Spotted Lizard Quiz

Answer: dark brown or black

The yellow spotted lizard's skin color is typically dark brown or black, which makes their spots their most highlighted quality. Their underbellies are a pale yellow. Their skin is usually very rough and sometimes resembles the same texture of snakes. Their tails have overlapping scales which can be very sharp to touch.

Answer: They don't need males

Parthenogenesis means the female can produce young without any involvement of a male of the same species. All offspring produced this way will also be female with some colonies consisting of all females. If males are available, they can also procreate sexually.

Answer: They come out only at night.

The yellow spotted lizard is one of approximately thirty of the species found in the Xantusiidae family. Reptiles from the family Xantusiidae are also called night lizards. However these creatures do most of their activity during daylight hours. Their lifestyles mislead people to believe they are night creatures because they live in very narrow dark spaces.

Answer: North and South America

Yellow spotted lizards are native to North and South America. They have been sighted as far north as Texas. The most populous region of them is from Mexico to Panama. Many groups of them live in the subtropical forests of Central America.

Answer: wet decaying logs

In many cases, they can live their entire lives under the same log or rock. They prefer to live in damp climates which include rainforests, tropical dry forests, and subtropical wet forests. Due to the decrease in these habitats, the yellow spotted lizards are also disappearing as well.

Other places the yellow spotted lizards have been known to form a habitat are under leaf debris, rock crevices, and tree stumps. On rare occasion they have been known to also live in water.

Answer: False

These lizards are wild and very aggressive, which has attracted many reptile lovers to wanting them for pets. It is becoming rarer to gain yellow spotted lizards in captivity because their populations have been decreasing. They will bite humans without cause but their bite is not poisonous or life threatening. It can however be very painful.

Answer: insects

Yellow spotted lizards often do not leave their habitat to find food, but will emerge to hunt if necessary. They feed mainly on insects which include termites, ants, crickets, scorpions, spiders, millipedes and centipedes. Yellow spotted lizards that live in water often feed off of mosquitoes and water grubs. They use their tail to propel them out of the water to catch their prey.

Answer: True

There are many populations of the yellow spotted lizard that are only female. The female lizard can produce offspring without the male involved. Usually when this happens the offspring is female as well. In the southernmost areas where these lizards have been found, many of their populations have been solely female.

Answer: They give birth to live young.

Yellow spotted lizards do not lay eggs. Their babies grow from an embryo in the mother's womb. At the end of the term they give birth. Usually yellow spotted lizards will give birth during the months of June and July.

Answer: 15 years

Because of their limited activity, these lizards have been known to have a lifespan that can last up to fifteen years in the wild. They are not threatened by many predators because of their sheltered lifestyle in their homes. The main cause for the lizard's disappearing population is their lack of homes.

The more native habitats to the lizard disappear, the more their survival has been endangered.