Gila Monster photo
by John White

• There are about 40 species of lizards, and in about 10 of those species, there are no males.
• The Chihuahua whiptail lizard flicks out its tongue more than 700 times an hour.
• The tuatara lizard of New Zealand has a couple of eyes where you'd expect them to be and a third eye with a crude lens on the top of its head. That eye doesn't work the way a regular eye works. Scientists don't know what it's for.
• The tuatara only breathes once an hour.
• Lizards remain motionless 90 percent of their lives.
• Why most lizards have movable eyelids while no snake does is a mystery.
• A gila monster's poison contains an enzyme that dissolves the acid that cements cells together. That's what kills its victims...turns their insides to mush.