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AFGHAN ARABIA WILD
WILDLIFE OF AFGHANISTAN WILDLIFE OF SAUDI ARABIA NORTHWEST WILDLIFE ONLINE
LIZARDS OF ARABIA
John M. Regan
The largest country in the Middle East, the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a huge chunk of desert about one fifth the size
of the United States
It is bordered to the north by Iraq and Iran;
Yemen and Oman round out its southern tip.
To the east and west sit the strategic
waterways of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
Ruled by King Abdulah, son of the first Saudi
king, Saudi Arabia is truly a monarchy.
The country is a predominately harsh desert
with no running waterways or large permanent bodies of water.
Summer temperatures regularly exceed one
hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit and barely 2 percent of the country is
arable.
Yet with twenty percent of the world's proven oil
reserves it is a country of enormous geo-political and economic importance.
I was fortunate enough to spend a year in Saudi Arabia
near the capital city of Riyadh. Located
approximately in the middle of the country about two hundred miles from the
Persian Gulf, Riyadh is known more for its strict adherence to Islamic
practice, conduct, and dress than its nightlife.
A favored tourist attraction it is not.
But wildlife is another story.
The Riyadh Escarpment, a dramatic curving line of spectacular desert
cliffs runs from north to south along the west side of the city.
The scenery is stunning and the fauna in the area just as dazzling.
A single day's outing reveals everything from camel spiders to
baboons. Wolves and hyenas
prowl; owls, falcons, and eagles soar.
Reptiles abound.
But lizards rule. Geckos
in color shades from pink to white run about inside and outside homes, and
inhabit every crack and crevice of the backyard by the dozens.
In the desert the supremacy of lizards is even more evident.
In fact the lizard population is so large that a dedicated observer
can soon learn to gauge the temperature of the day simply by identifying the
species of lizard that happens to be out at a particular time.
It is as though the lizards have taken over the role of rodents in
this austere climate.
Geckos and
agamids boast the largest variety of species with the nod toward sheer
numbers going to the geckos.
Agamids, however, hold the size title.
The largest and most famous of the Saudi
agamids is the Dhub (pronounced "dubb") lizard,
Uromastyx
aegyptius.
With an adult length of two feet and a
hefty seven to ten pound weight, dhubs are the largest lizard species in
Saudi and most well known.
Dhubs have long been a favorite at the Saudi
dinner table.
Bedouin desert dwellers are experts at smoking
the reptiles out of their den and making a snack out of the lizard's tail.
Those countless years of hunting have made the
dhub a very wary animal.
Despite their size and squat appearance, dhubs
are extraordinarily fast and race to their burrow at the first inkling of
danger.
Catching one in the open is not an easy task.
Finding them, however, is hardly a challenge.
As the morning heat rises to about 90 degrees
- cool by Saudi standards - the dhubs begin to emerge.
They are so large and their burrows so
distinctive that they are easy to see even when rolling along at a moderate
speed in a car.
Their resemblance to prairie dogs is
remarkable.
Like prairie dog dhubs are plant eaters.
Another large agamid is
Blanford's Agama,
Agama blandfordi.
Bearing a marked resemblance in color and
body type to bearded lizards, Blandford's Agama reaches ten inches in length
and is just as noticeable a part of the desert landscape as the dhub.
Yet unlike the easily spooked dhubs,
Agama
blandfordi is
extraordinarily approachable.
Their distinctive profiles grace exposed
rocks, dirt mounds, and scrub brushes as they calmly bask during the hottest
part of the desert day.
Perhaps this is the key to their
approachability - they simply aren't used to seeing other living things
stirring in this heat.
Photographing this guy is as easy as driving
your vehicle up to their basking rock and clicking the shutter.
They can be approached on foot just as easily.
Dhub lizards excepted, this nonchalance in the
presence of humans seems to be the case with many of the agamid species in
the area.
The smaller and much prettier Arabian Toad
Headed Agama,
Phrynocephalus maculatus,
prefers rocky landscapes in more moderate heat.
These slender lizards often sit very still and
allow the photographer to belly crawl all around while snapping close up
after close up.
On the other end of the size scale are a
number of small, American anole shaped lizards that inhabit a variety of
desert niches.
The delicately designed Hadramaut Sand Lizard,
Mesalina adramitana,
stretches out to just two inches.
This diminutive reptile is a marvelous example
of adaptation to extreme conditions.
The terrain where they are most common are
areas of small, pancake shaped rocks devoid of vegetation or anything
approaching moisture.
No bigger than a medium sized dragonfly this
little lizard comes out at nearly the height of midday heat.
Fast and perfectly camouflaged in sandy beige
it is a difficult animal to spot.
At first you think the heat and bland terrain
are playing tricks on your eyes.
Eventually you realize that those tiny, light
brown flickers in your peripheral vision are actually this small lacertate.
The obvious food source for the Sand Lizard
are small insects yet there are several Saudi scorpions who could just as
easily make a meal out of the Sand Lizard.
Another small, slender lizard is the colorful
Tail Lasher,
Eremias fasciata.
Widespread throughout the area and into Central Asia
this tiger striped and leopard spotted lizard has adapted itself to a huge
variety of climates and habitats.
About the time that the big dhubs retire back
into their cool underground homes the Tail Lashers emerge and often in
great numbers.
It is an unusual trek into the desert when at
least a dozen are not encountered; normally far more.
In some places the herp enthusiast must take
care not to step on the little fellows. Vigorous burrowers,
Eremias fasciata,
actually "sand swim" for short distances to escape danger.
Species with a size and personality ideal for
the collector are the Fringe Toed Lizards.
Schmidt's Fringe Toed Lizard,
Acanthodactylus schmidti,
is the most striking.
This is a beautifully colored reptile displays
a light brown, almost orange back richly speckled with white scales.
Schmidt's Fringe Toe is about seven inches
long and distinguished by an exceptionally long
fourth toe on the foot of each rear leg from
which protrude a number of comb like pointed scales.
Although this trait is not uncommon in desert
lizards it is especially pronounced in this species.
Fringe Toes are active and interesting to
observe as they meticulously inspect their territory.
When prey is spotted the lizard goes instantly
rigid.
Suddenly the tail quivers violently as though
anticipating the kill.
With a flashing strike the drama is over and
the Fringe Toe continues its explorations.
The lizards most noticeable to Saudi Arabian
inhabitants are the geckos.
Throughout the desert and in and around humans
the ubiquitous geckos have made themselves at home.
In addition to their unique "geckoness" that
makes them so recognizable the geckos of Saudi have a behavior that sets
them apart from their cousins - they do not burrow.
This time honored adaptation to the broiling
Saudi sun is casually ignored by the geckos who prefer to hide under rocks,
debris, trash, cracks, and crevices.
They simply are not into digging.
Perhaps the most common is the Blandford's
Rock Gecko, Bunopus tuberculatus.
Ranging in color from dull brown to a
beautiful pink hue, this gecko is at home in or out of the house.
At the other end of the beauty scale is the
Roughed Tailed Gecko Cyrtopodion scaber,
which might be more appropriately named "Ugly Gecko."
Light to dark gray with an oddly elongated
body the Rough Tailed Gecko will never win a contest for best looking
lizard.
In Saudi Arabia they seem to prefer living near
humans, but not with them.
Rough Tails are found in abundance alongside
homes and in backyards, old buildings, and dry rotted trees.
There are at least a hundred lizard species in
Saudi Arabia; many perhaps unknown in the west.
The Saudis are not known as great naturalists
and species identification is a challenge.
Geckos of almost pure white emerge at night
and big pot bellied geckos haunt wadi caves.
Large desert monitors prowl the land as well.
For any reptile enthusiast the Kingdom is a
potential treasure trove.
Transportation is not difficult, nor
particularly expensive.
There are daily round trip flights from
Atlanta to Dubai; ticket prices run from one thousand to three thousand
dollars depending on the season.
From Dubai it is a short hop via Saudi Air to
King Kahled Airport in Riyadh.
Don't worry about living arrangements; there
are many top notch hotels in Dubai and Riyadh.
April through June are the best months to
visit; the heat is not so furnace like and it is warm enough to make the
reptiles comfortable.
Getting into the desert is easy.
King Fahd Highway runs through Riyadh and will
get you out into the wilderness in short order.
A word of warning about driving - it is
dangerous, very, very dangerous!
Saudis are utterly reckless and pay no
attention whatever to speed limits, stops signs, or traffic signals.
Do not think that because you have driven in
New York or Boston that you are prepared.
The hazards in our big cities are nothing
compared to Riyadh.
For sightseeing and herping in the Riyadh area
two locations are in the absolute must see category:
Thumamah and the Tuwayq Mountains.
Al Amariyah is a Saudi national park and is an
intriguing complex of cliffs, deep wadis, and hidden valleys.
In addition to being fertile herping grounds,
Al Amariyah is a fossil hunter's dream.
Entire hillsides are comprised of the
fossilized remains of coral, shells, and sponges.
Plush Bedouin style tents are available for
overnight stays.
The Tuwayq Mountains, also known as the "Edge
of the World,"
is an astounding ridge of desert cliffs that
stop abruptly and overlook a desert plain that seems to go on to infinity.
Overnight stays are possible, but bring a tent
or sleep in your vehicle.
Dos and Don'ts:
All of this is really not so difficult to deal
with.
The desert is hot and dry so use common sense.
Going without a beer for a week or two is not
a terrible trial.
Western style restaurants and major restaurant
chains are everywhere.
You'll eat well (minus the pork).
Politics and religion aside, Saudi Arabia is a
fascinating country.
You'll see an extraordinary array of wildlife,
landscapes that will haunt your memory - and a lot of lizards.
AFGHAN ARABIA WILD
WILDLIFE OF AFGHANISTAN WILDLIFE OF SAUDI ARABIA NORTHWEST WILDLIFE ONLINE