Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Colorful Eastern Fence Lizard
By: Tom Berg
There is a tremendous number of different species of lizards living in the continental United States: more than 150 different species! Every state except Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island has populations of native lizards. Of course, our 150 species of lizards is small when compared to some other countries. Australia, for example, has a total of 805 lizard species, while Mexico has 456 species. That’s a lot of different lizards!
One colorful and interesting specie of lizard living in the southern and eastern USA is the Eastern Fence Lizard. This lizard typically measures 7-8 inches long and is covered with rough scales. It is mostly brown or grayish-brown, but the males have a reddish-orange band along their sides and a bright blue belly and throat. They are surprisingly beautiful.
Eastern fence lizards are sometimes called prairie lizards, gray lizards, pine lizards, horn-billed lizards or just plain fence lizards. Their preferred habitat is forest edges and rocky ravines and hillsides. They also like open areas where the sun can get down to the forest floor. This is where they tend to sun themselves, especially in the morning.
They hunt for a variety of insects, but ants, crickets and grasshoppers are some of their favorites. Spiders are another favored item on their menu. Eastern fence lizards love to eat ants of all kinds, but one invasive species of red fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) from South America are dangerous for the lizards to eat. The fire ants contain a venom that adversely affects the lizards when consumed. The fire ants also attack the fence lizards and their venomous stings can kill the lizards, too.
Eastern fence lizards are completely harmless to humans, but they do not make good pets. They are not easy to catch, either, since they are nimble and fast. They are also great climbers, and they climb trees as well as a squirrel. Like squirrels, the eastern fence lizard moves to the other side of the tree trunk when people or predators approach.
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