Animal of the Week: Common Basilisk
Hello, Walter Reed students! You are reading another addition to our ongoing Did You Know? series! Guess what animal is our topic this week? It's the… (drumroll please)...Common Basilisk (Crickets chirping, tumbleweed). Yes, we know, it doesn’t sound very interesting at first glance, but it’s nicknamed the Jesus Christ lizard for an incredible ability it has. What can this reptile do, you ask? You’ll find out soon enough!
Fun Fact: The Common Basilisk is named after a mythical creature, the Basilisk. All you Harry Potter fans will get this one. It is known with any sort of eye contact. It is basically a giant medusa but a serpent.
The Common Basilisk, also known as the Jesus Christ lizard, inhabits waterways all around the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. They prefer living in tropical moist forests and wetlands. These lizards have developed a way to quickly get around and escape from predators by running on water! Hence the nickname, Jesus Christ lizard. The lizards are able to do this remarkable act with their sizable hind legs and special frills on the side of some of their toes. Even though they can only run a short distance, this results in the lizard being able to get to safety when predators come after it.
This lizard has many predators, some of which include birds of prey (eagles, hawks, falcons, etc.), other reptiles (snakes, etc.), some mammals, and large fish. Like we mentioned before, this lucky fellow can flee these feral predators by sprinting over small bodies of water into the safety of the brush. The Common Basilisk is an omnivore, which means it eats both plants and meat. On the contrary, here is a list of what it eats. It loves to eat insects, fruit, and sometimes vertebrae.
The reproduction of the Jesus Christ Lizard is quite interesting. The breeding occurs in March, and the eggs are produced by the females in a duration of ten months. They are laid in five to eight batches that can have up to twenty eggs. The young hatch in around three months and live up to six or less years. The babies weigh at least two grams and can reach a height of 38 to 43 millimeters. Surprisingly, they are self-sufficient at birth and do not rely on elders to take care of themselves.
As this article comes to a close, we hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this incredible lizard. See you all next week!
Reanna Lee ‘23 ;)
Zoe Weirauch ‘23 :D
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