Two legged Cordylus...

[Jamster]

Not sure if their genus is still Cordylus, but I found this guy while sampling flowering plant species for a University assignment.

I noticed that he wasnt as fast as these little guys usually are. When I picked him up I realised that he was missing two of his limbs on one side??

There are plenty of birds of prey in the area, so i figured one of them may have spotted him and he darted into a crevice. Those of you who have tried to get one of these or a crag lizard out of a crevice, you know how dificult it can be. I reckon a bird or a mongoose pulled them off after he had wedjed himself in.

He was relatively mobile and looked healthy. What was also intruiging is that the stump of the hind leg had some scale regrowth similar to that which they get on their tails.

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[jka]

I remember last year we found a blue spotted girdled lizard with three legs.
And he was soon nicknamed.

The hind legg should cause too much trouble, its just the front leg that will hassle it abit. I didn't really see any bird life when we photographed our coeruleopunctatus

[Jamster]

I would think that both the hind and front legs would be equally important as they are both used for locomotion?

[Westley Price]

Great observation man.

I always surprised by how much we underestimate the toughness of animals.

It's obvious that those are old wounds (or rather amputations!) but the little guy looks just as healthy as any lizard.

Thanx for posting!

[Warren Klein]

Shame the poor guy must run in circles. Would have been better off losing one on each side but does not look to be in bad condition despite this handicap.

[Fooble]

Rian a great day that was.

Here's a photo of that specimen.



Taken by JKA on a Compact Camera.