Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) lives in rocky outcrops across Eastern North America. It feeds on insects and spiders. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Eastern Fence Lizard
- Over the past 70 years, eastern fence lizards have evolved longer legs and new escape tactics to survive attacks by red imported fire ants, which can kill a lizard in under a minute. When threatened, they twitch their bodies and flee faster, especially juveniles. Prior exposure doesn't change the number of twitches, but it does make lizards twitch, showing a rapid, stress-driven behavioral shift that can mean life or death.
- In 1942, Carl Kauffeld released just 29 fence lizards near Rossville on Staten Island, and the tiny founding group still thrives today in post-oak barrens. This deliberate introduction created a self-sustaining population, illustrating how a handful of individuals can seed a lasting, ecologically integrated community far from their native range.
- Each male defends a personal arena of roughly 47-61 m², a space that often overlaps with a neighbor's territory but centers on the locations of nearby females. Early-spring rituals like push-ups and blue-belly flashes mark these borders, and the larger the male, the larger the area he can hold.
- These lizards can stretch from a tiny 4.0-inch hatchling to a 7.5-inch adult, a total length of 10-19 cm including the tail. An adult weighs about 15 g and measures 9-19 cm from snout to tail tip, making it a lightweight, agile predator.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeEastern North America
HabitatRocky outcrops
DietInsects and spiders
About the Eastern Fence Lizard
As the warmth of sunlight dances across the rocky outcroppings, the Eastern Fence Lizard stirs to life, its scaly body a masterful blend of brown and gray that allows it to seamlessly meld into its surroundings. With a swift, darting motion, it scurries across the terrain, its tiny feet barely touching the ground as it pursues its insect prey with relentless enthusiasm. In this sun-baked world of scrub and stone, the Eastern Fence Lizard is a diminutive monarch, its very existence a testament to the enduring power of adaptation and resilience.
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