Lizard news, features and articles

A close-up of an iguana
An iguana. (Image credit: shikhei goh via Getty Images)

Lizards are an ancient group of reptiles home to thousands of living species and many more in the fossil record. Whether you're interested in lizards with multiple tails, a six-foot-long lizard terrifying a Florida family or the 240-million-year-old "mother of all lizards," Live Science has stories for you with the latest lizard news, articles and features written by our expert team of writers and editors.

Discover more about lizards

—Lizards: From tiny geckos to giant Komodo dragons

—In photos: Flashy collared lizards of the North American deserts

Latest about Lizards

Night lizards survived dinosaur-killing asteroid strike despite living right next to impact site

By Patrick Pester published

Researchers found that night lizards survived the dinosaur-killing asteroid strike at the end of the Cretaceous, despite living near the impact site in Mexico.

Lizards

Iguanas sailed one-fifth of the way around the world on rafts 34 million years ago

By K.R. Callaway published

Ancient iguanas sailed around 5,000 miles from North America to Fiji by clinging to floating vegetation, new research suggests.

Lizards
Labords chameleon lizard female in tropical dry forest Madagascar walking on a branch.

Labord's chameleon: The color-changing lizard that drops dead in 4 months

By Lydia Smith published

Labord's chameleons are only found in Western Madagascar and have developed a live fast die young life cycle to cope with the extreme environmental conditions.

Lizards
A close-up of a horned lizard

Short-horned lizard: The inflatable 'horny toad' that squirts toxic blood from its eyes

By Lydia Smith published

This little lizard can fire blood up to 5 feet from its face, has spiky horns and inflates itself to choke predators.

Lizards
Two images of the semi-aquatic lizard, Anolis aquaticus; Side view of lizard with round bubble on top of its head (left), front profile of lizard with bubble on top of its head between its eyes.

'Scuba-diving' lizards breathe underwater by wearing air bubbles on their noses — just like in a cartoon

By Elise Poore published

Scuba-diving lizards use bubbles to stay submerged in water for long periods of time.

Lizards
Close-up photograph of the thorny devil lizard.

Thorny devil: The spike-covered lizard that sucks water from sand through its skin

By Lydia Smith published

Thorny devils have a plethora of defenses against predators, including a fake head and a weird jerky walk.

Lizards
A pictured captured of the underside of the chameleon spotted on the branches in a tree moments before it died.

Watch chameleon erupt in color 'as if uttering her last words' in her final moments before death

By Hannah Osborne published

Footage of Labord's chameleon in last moments of her short life shows her skin burst into 'chaotic technicolor patterns' — a spectacle never observed in the wild before.

Lizards
Lyon's grassland skink on dried mud.

Surprise discovery of snake-like lizard feared extinct leaves scientists amazed

By Patrick Pester published

Researchers found three species of skink in Australia they feared could be extinct, including the Lyon's grassland striped skink.

Lizards
Two scaly earless monitor lizards sit together side by side on top of some leaves

Earless monitor lizards: The 'Holy Grail' of reptiles that looks like a mini dragon

By Patrick Pester published

Researchers are only beginning to understand the cryptic lives of the earless monitor lizards of Borneo.

Lizards
An artist's drawing of a mosasaur.

Newly discovered Cretaceous sea monster named after world-ending Norse serpent

By Jennifer Nalewicki published

Paleontologists have described a new species of mosasaur with "angry eyebrows" that lived 80 million years ago.

Lizards
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Archives