A Loopy Lizard Legacy

A Whimsical Tale of Love and Compassion

I’m popping in today with a little something positive while I work on some other articles to bring you — soon.

An appreciative Lilly-the-Lizard, rescued — but not in the usual way. Photo by Paula High-Young, 8/15/2020.

Lilly-the-Lizard

I named her Lilly. I don’t know exactly why — maybe it had a ring to it?
And I don’t usually name my rescues. Maybe because she seemed so “touch-n-go” for a little while?

I think it’s a girl. She had no blue on her tail, so not what I grew up calling a “blue-tail.”

One of my many baby “Blue-tail” rescues. 8/01/2020 Photo by Paula High-Young.

After reading up about the 7-stripe lizard (what I called her before I knew her species), I learned a couple of things.

They’re supposedly called Texas Spotted Whiptails — odd because they seem to have more stripes than spots, but okay.

And I discovered the boys have blue on their bellies and the girls have cream-colored bellies. So, Lilly, it is.

“Texas Spotted Whiptail (Cnemidophorus gularis gularis) is one of 11 species of “race-runners” that live in Texas [and New Mexico!], and it arguably has the largest area of distribution.”