The Reptiles - Lizards

[bright music] [upbeat music] [camera shutter clicks] - Beautiful, beautiful.

Okay, very good.

Beautiful, beautiful.

Here, let me turn you this way.

Okay, baby, you are looking so good today.

Beautiful, beautiful.

Look this way, please.

Ah, perfect.

Beautiful.

You are looking just fine.

Oh, okay.

Look this way.

[camera shutter clicks] - [Narrator] Besides the lounge lizard, there are lizards in incredible variety throughout the world.

In bizarre and colorful costumes, these natural actors strut their stuff in deserts and in oceans.

[water splashing] In forests, they frighten or seduce with spectacular display.

The biggest stalk the Earth as though they were resurrected dinosaurs.

The smallest are shorter than a child's finger.

Our imagination can see them as alien forms.

But their origin and success is far closer to home on planet Earth.

And some are simply as cute as we make them.

[mellow music] [upbeat music] - [Announcer] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.

- [Narrator] In a time so long ago it's hard to imagine, reptiles explored the world.

In an age before the dinosaurs, there were probably lizards among them.

No fossil trace of them has been found earlier than 170 million years ago.

By that time, a variety of true lizards were sharing the planet with the so-called terrible lizards, the dinosaurs.

[gentle music] In this great age of reptiles, lizards of all shapes and sizes were firmly on the path that would lead to the present day.

Because true lizards have claws and scales, and a superficial likeness to some dinosaurs, the two have been confused.

[gentle music] But lizards are not close relatives of dinosaurs.

They are a very different group of reptiles.

The lizards' line of descent from the very first reptiles soon branched off from those animals that became dinosaurs and crocodiles.

Some of the early lizards became ancestors of the snakes.

But from then on, lizards remained separate from the other groups.

All have survived into modern times.

And if you like lizards, there are 4,000 different types to choose from, and some can still remind you of dinosaurs.

[dramatic music] The basilisk has that prehistoric look.

[water splashing] But it's a lizard that's been walking on water for more than a million years.

Lizards are a varied bunch.

They seem to lack a lizard factor, something that they all have in common, and yet there's something about a lizard that signals what it is.

[cheery music] It's not the scales.

Other creatures have those.

It's not large size.

There are small ones you'd hardly notice.

While many hunt by day, others only come out at night.

And it's no good counting legs.

Most have four, it's true, but there are some that manage on fewer.

[mellow music] This is no snake.

It's a legless lizard.

And there are lizards for all seasons.

This one is lapping up ice and snow in Israel, refreshing itself in the spring sunshine.

Most lizards bask in the sun on mountaintops or tropical beaches.

Caribbean iguanas have to sunbathe to get their bodies up to speed.

Their cold blood needs to be warmed.

[waves crashing] These iguanas on a Galapagos island also sunbathe, but when the dinner bell rings, they leave the land for a seafood meal.

Clumsiness turns to aquatic grace as these massive iguanas head for the seaweed.

[gentle music] The water is cold, but they've had to adapt to feeding on algae.

There's little vegetation on their island.

Sipping nectar in the Seychelles' sunlight is far less strenuous.

But most lizards aren't vegetarians.

Chameleons like their meat.

[dramatic music] In the deserts of Arizona, the Gila monster also eats meat, and its bite is venomous.

And the Komodo dragon of Indonesia, a truly monstrous lizard, has deadly saliva.

Lizards can be scary.

[dramatic music] - Come back here!

[suspenseful music] [man screaming] [ominous music] - [Narrator] Living with lizards can be the stuff of nightmares.

[dramatic music] [animal growling] - Oh.

Hello, Mr. Loveable.

How nice to see you.

How are you?

- [Narrator] But some people love lizards.

37 lizards allow Henry Lizardlover to share their Los Angeles home.

- Iguanas want comfort.

They want their food, they wanna have a certain place to sleep in.

They have their little positions they like to get in.

Collard greens for you people.

Oh.

Hey, hey, let's put you right there.

Okay.

I saw everything in an iguana that you would see in a human.

- [Narrator] Iguanas are Henry's favorite.

To him they're almost human.

Perhaps they see him as almost lizard.

- Hello, kids.

I brought you some food.

It's lunchtime.

Come and get it.

It's nice and wet.

Come on, I know you guys are gonna like it.

Hello, my name is Henry.

These are my lizards, and I love them more than anything.

Many years ago I changed my name to Henry Lizardlover because I love these lizards so much.

I wrote a book about them, and I do pictures of them that I turn into postcards and greeting cards.

This stuff's very healthy for you.

Mm.

Lots of minerals, calcium.

- [Narrator] Just like us, lizards need a healthy diet to look their best.

But the difference is they love their greens.

Feeding them nature's best veggies and knowing what makes them tick is all part of grooming these stars for Henry's catwalk.

- [Henry] My main purpose is to show that iguanas are human-like.

They're not some bizarre alien creatures that we have to fear or think of as creepy, germy creatures.

Every iguana is a definite individual.

They are all so different from each other.

Just like people.

[water trickling] - [Narrator] So Henry Lizardlover treats his lizards just like people.

[water trickling] - This is where some of my other lizards stay.

These are baby Chinese water dragons from Asia, and they're doing really, really well.

They need to stay in a dark place to feel safe.

[lips smacking] Okay, I'll leave you alone.

I keep some of my lizards in these drawers.

Actually, they go in on their own.

They're called Solomon Island tree skanks, and there's a whole family of them in here.

This is the mother that's had several of the babies.

This is a whole family.

Here's the male that the female mates with, and this is a baby from three years ago, about three years old now.

And this is a baby they just had about four months ago.

Look at this one.

Look at this cute little baby.

And they go in and out of these drawers on their own.

This is one of my favorite ones, this male.

I've had him for about 10 years now.

That makes him about 12 years old.

He was about 2 years old when I first got him.

These are wonderful little creatures.

I call this one Lovable.

Okay, I'll just put them back in their drawers.

They come out at night.

I didn't really wanna disturb them too much in the daytime here.

And finally the baby.

They'll come out on their own.

This is one of my favorite large male iguanas, and I have to keep him in this room alone, separated from the other males because they fight and they're very vicious towards each other.

Okay, I'm gonna leave him with the collard greens.

- [Narrator] And he doesn't get a Henry Lizardlover kiss, either.

Another of the 10 million people with pet reptiles in the U.S. is Phil Brower.

Phil's Washington home is full of heated terrariums.

- This is my bedroom, or the other part of my reptile collection.

Hey, guys, how ya doing?

Sleeping still?

I'm home, like it or not.

Hey.

Oh, settle down.

Where's your girlfriend?

Is she still in here?

There she is.

You guys still getting along?

Not beating up on each other?

You guys are anxious.

There we go, oh, a mealworm.

Oh, those are good.

- [Narrator] No one could be more passionate about his pets than Phil.

He's addicted to lizards.

And to feed and house them, he's just as passionate about his day job.

He's a zookeeper in a reptile house.

Millions are spellbound by lizards.

And the key to their charm may be their color.

[mystical music] But the brilliant colors in a lizard's skin are more about sex, threat, and disguise than pleasing us.

The sort of catwalk they'll be strutting can be dangerously competitive.

[birds chirping] Chameleons are the most colorful of all lizards, and their colors can be changed quickly.

But how is this done?

The scales themselves are transparent and dead.

Only when color is pumped into cells beneath them from pigment reservoirs below, does a new color show.

When the pigment is drained back into the reservoirs, the skin color changes back.

The chameleon is more dramatic as a quick-change artist than most lizards.

Colors and patterns change according to what mood the lizard's in.

Dark colors and a rocking motion camouflage this Jackson's chameleon.

A vivid display of color signals anger at the intruder.

[suspenseful music] The trespasser lowers his profile and avoids confrontation.

It was only looking for food.

But the dominant chameleon is guarding his territory.

His fancy outfit advertises his aggression.

[crickets chirping] The exact opposite is not being seen.

There is a lizard here, but only when it moves can it be seen on the tree.

Combat fatigues owe a lot to animal camouflage.

Advance and don't be recognized is the rule on the bark and under leaves.

Earning medals for leaf-like camouflage is this leaf-tailed gecko.

[crickets chirping] A crevice in the rocks is as good a hiding place as a tree hole.

This outcrop is home to a colony of South African armadillo girdled lizards.

They come out to bask in the sun and to feed, but are ready to dive for cover, even when their pursuer has their future welfare at heart.

Louise Visagie of Stellenbosch University in South Africa knows how these lizards, if caught in the open, earn the armadillo bit in their name.

- I work with great lizards.

They live in crevices which is really great because a predator can't lift those rocks.

But what really makes this lizard special is the unique defensive behavior that gave it its name.

And that is why it's called the armadillo lizard.

Imagine biting onto this.

As you can see, all the hard spines are pointing outwards and the limbs are covering the soft belly, so it simply lies there and waits for the predator to get bored.

Then it uncurls and runs back into the safety of the crevice.

That's the armadillo lizard.

- [Narrator] The trick depends on a vice-like grip of the mouth onto the tail.

[whimsical music] Back to its crevice.

But it will soon have to brave danger, basking out in the sun again.

Which is what all lizards have to do, even the largest, the Komodo dragon.

[dramatic music] Being cold-blooded really means not having a constant body temperature like we have.

Reptiles must warm up in the sunlight, which gives them the energy to become active.

[mellow music] The first rays have hardly warmed the granite before a chameleon stretches its body out to catch the sun.

Like a solar panel, the chameleon presents as much surface as possible to the sun and absorbs heat.

On top of the chameleon's head, just under the skin, is a light sensitive organ, a third eye.

It's called the pineal eye and helps pass information to the brain about the intensity and duration of sunlight, vital information that effects the timing of hibernation and mating.

The two sides of a chameleon may look quite different.

Here, the left is dark, but the right side facing the sun has become almost white to reflect the sun and prevent overheating.

As temperatures change, the chameleon constantly adjusts its coloration.

In the heat of midday, it may become a whiter shade of pale all over to maintain its cool, and remain still in whatever shade is available.

[wind whooshing] Deserts can be dangerously short on shade as well as food and drink, and yet hundreds of the world's amazing lizards survive on the burning sand.

This desert lizard is just cooling his feet.

When he just can't take the heat anymore, he'll dive into the cool of a dune.

[waves crashing] To us, the cool of the sea might seem a comfortable place on an equatorial island.

But for the marine iguanas of the Galapagos, the sea is a cold and risky necessity.

They're descendants of South American land-dwelling iguanas, castaways that floated in on rafts of drifting vegetation.

[waves crashing] The only food for them here is seaweed located offshore in waters both cold and rough.

Eating is not a simple task.

To feed underwater, the iguanas must use their claws as anchors, hold their breath for as long as 20 minutes, and maintain enough heat in their bodies to keep themselves going.

[water burbling] Loss of heat is the main threat to survival.

Stay too long, become too cold and weak, and run the risk of being caught by a Galapagos sea lion, whose favorite game is catching iguanas.

[water splashing] It's all in the timing.

They must eat enough to sustain them for the day, yet leave themselves enough energy to swim the gauntlet and climb back onto the rocks, where they will sunbathe to regain their strength.

Excess salt is snorted out.

And everyone settles down to getting warm enough to digest their food.

As ancient castaways, these iguanas adapted to their island life very well.

They're lizards that know when to come in from the cold.

[bright music] For lizards, getting a grip means hanging on to trees and rocks.

A three-horned chameleon has the divided claws unique to chameleons.

Three toes one side, two on the other, ideal on these thin branches.

[cheery music] An alternative is having feet like tendrils, slender toes that this green iguana uses to clamber around trees in Central America.

[cheery music] But the greatest feat is pulled off by some of the geckos.

How does this Tokay gecko, with its curious upturning toes, walk upside down on trees, ceilings, and windows?

Each foot has claws and special pads, and it's the pads that hold the secret of walking up the wall.

They're covered in millions of tiny hairs.

The hairs are capable of hooking on to the slightest irregularity, even on glass.

Each hair carries a tiny charge of static electricity that helps a gecko get a grip.

Some lizards need to sprint.

This agama will have to dash for cover if the world's fastest mammal gets seriously playful.

[whimsical music] And in Australia, this frilled lizard can scare off a would-be predator.

The frills make it look bigger.

It's a bluff, but it's a bluff that works.

[dramatic music] Lovington, New Mexico specializes in lizards that can run.

- Today is the world's greatest lizard race, and it's part of our Fourth of July celebration here in Lovington, New Mexico.

Tell you what, guys, let's check that fence line right over there, it's the last chance to catch these lizards today, so let's see if we can get something.

The World's Greatest Lizard Race has been a really exciting event that we've held every year.

A lot of anticipation to it.

The kids, you'll see them around town with buckets and mops and going through the lots trying to find a lizard, so yeah, there's a lot of excitement to the lizard race.

- [Narrator] They first started catching mountain boomers, whiptails, and skinks for the Bicentennial celebration race in 1976, and it's no easier now than it was then.

[dramatic music] The tail was shed to distract the pursuer.

No harm has been done to the escaped lizard.

Most lizards can contract a special muscle to cast off their tail painlessly.

A new tail will grow in a few months.

- There are some people that have a tough time finding a lizard, and we do know that the pet shop sells those lizards, and they're not as fast as the wild type of lizards that we have here.

Usually the winners are ones that are found native to this area.

There are several different techniques in catching a lizard, and one of the most popular now is that they have actually built traps or buried a bucket or can underground with it open under high lizard traffic areas, and the lizard will be walking through that area and get caught and- - Come on, Dad!

- Can you excuse me just a minute?

I think we've got one.

Great job, man, it's one of those whiptails too.

It's gonna be one of those fast ones, man.

Get ready.

All right, good job.

♪ Y'all ready for this ♪ [bright music] [people cheering] - All right!

Y'all ready to run for today?

[people cheering] Some of you guys can go here.

We'll take six at a time.

We're gonna have a horned toad race.

We want the crowd to get into it, guys, have a little bit of fun.

- [Announcer] It's post time.

[bright music] [gun fires] - They're off.

- [Announcer] Let's give them some encouragement.

All right.

[people cheering] - [Narrator] Trainers may encourage their runners with feathers.

Half the town has turned up to cheer them on their way.

If any lizard eats other competitors, it's disqualified.

Shoving is not approved of.

- Oh, easy, easy!

- Yes!

[people cheering] - In first place at The World's Greatest Lizard Race and a chance to get to go to Orlando, Florida goes to Ryan Roberts from Lovington.

Congratulations, Ryan.

All right.

Y'all stay there, guys.

Let's get a picture here.

If you could scoot back just a minute there, buddy.

[mellow music] - [Narrator] In the everyday race for survival, lizards need good eyesight, especially the slower-moving kinds.

They need to see danger coming.

Sight also helps lizards to find their own food.

The swiveling eyes of a chameleon are able to do double duty.

One eye can spot prey, while the other looks out for predators.

This Namib chameleon is tracking a beetle.

[dramatic music] The beetle will be lucky to escape now that its movement and direction have been spotted.

[dramatic music] Once the beetle stops, the chameleon refocuses.

Left and right eyes converge to provide range-finding depth to the image.

Target locked on.

[dramatic music] That tongue is one and a half times the length of the chameleon.

The bulbous end is very sticky, and strong muscles pull the tongue and captive back into the mouth.

[upbeat music] Accuracy, stealth, and long-range surprise in unique combination.

[upbeat music] And once it's chewing, the chameleon begins scanning for new game in the African bush.

Arizona.

Enter the horned toad.

Well, it's a lizard, really.

It feeds on ants, but only two species of them.

Their formic acid is essential in its diet.

The lizard's camouflage is perfect.

It finds an ant's nest and sits there, invisible, eating its fill for weeks on end.

The city of Tucson, Arizona is home to a growing population which must deal with a special local problem, the Gila monster.

This lizard's saliva is venomous, so its bite is to be avoided.

And there's no antidote.

In this environment, a new home may easily be built over a Gila monster burrow, especially since Gila monsters can remain hidden underground for up to two years.

[dramatic music] The fire department receives calls on a regular basis.

[truck engine rumbling] - I think people call for Gila monsters in part because they're afraid of them.

They know that they can be poisonous.

A lot of times people call out of fear for their animals or for their children.

But I don't think they pose an immediate threat.

Normally they don't bite unless they're antagonized somehow.

[truck engine rumbling] [Gila monster hisses] Okay, you got him?

- [Narrator] Gila monsters are becoming rare animals.

Rural Metro, this private fire company, relocates many of the 500 or so that turn up in the city's backyards every year.

- All right, there you go.

- Thanks.

Have a good day.

- You're welcome.

Bye-bye.

- Bye.

- [Narrator] Some get crushed by traffic, a few will even find their way back, to the homeowner's dismay.

- We'll take him somewhere within the same area that we caught him, hopefully within the same square mile, and we'll let him go.

We try and let them go somewhat away from homes, but still in a nice desert area where he can survive.

If we take them further than a mile from where we found them from, their survivability dramatically decreases.

[dramatic music] - [Narrator] The salivating dragons on the Indonesian island of Komodo would be a much more dramatic surprise in your backyard.

The people on Komodo have had close encounters, a few of them fatal.

The lizard's copious saliva is not venomous, but can easily be the cause of an animal's death.

[mellow music] A sudden burst of speed can sometimes get the dragon into striking distance, and all it will have to do is to slash at a leg with its very sharp teeth.

The saliva will do the killing.

The dragon plays a waiting game.

Its saliva contains powerfully toxic bacteria.

The injured deer collapses from the infection and will quickly die.

[dramatic music] The smell of death brings the dragons to a feast.

The dragons share the kill and reinfect their own saliva with more bacteria.

[Komodo dragons growling] Komodo is a long way from the world of Henry Lizardlover.

[cheery music] Anxious that lizards should not make people nervous, Henry takes a stroll on the balmy streets of Los Angeles.

But there is a hidden personal agenda to his lizard evangelism.

He meets a few new friends when he and his reptiles are doing lunch.

[bright music] - He's wearing a gold chain.

- I love getting all the women to meet the lizards and embrace the lizards, and then sooner or later I meet women that embrace me.

And I meet a lot of girls this way.

It's always been a very rewarding thing.

One way or another, I've met some very beautiful, fine women that love the lizards and love me.

- He is so beautiful.

Lots of colors.

- He's about 10, 10 years old.

- Oh, no.

- Wow.

- [Narrator] Romance is also in the air on Komodo Island.

This male dragon's eye has been caught by a female of similar size.

For such formidable creatures, their courtship is surprisingly gentle.

He's smelling her with his tongue.

She seems pleased by his attention.

He is cautious, needing to be sure of her receptiveness.

He's not looking for a fight by mistake.

[mellow music] Pawing her gently, as well as rubbing her back with his chin, he woos her.

[mellow music] But for all his attentions, she is still undecided.

Something isn't satisfactory to her.

[mellow music] Perhaps it's just not his day.

[dramatic music] Most lizards lay eggs after mating.

These were laid by a green iguana in Central America.

[dramatic music] They've been incubating underground for some 90 days.

[gentle music] Fully formed when they come out of the egg, these youngsters receive no motherly welcome.

Every hatchling has to look after itself in a dangerous world.

Maternal care is not part of this iguana's behavior.

But the 40 newcomers from this clutch will be well-equipped to survive on their own.

[mellow music] In these vineyards in South Africa, there are lizards that do not lay eggs.

Instead, the young of this Cape dwarf chameleon enter the world another way.

This mother has been holding eggs in her body.

The eggs hatch as they emerge and the young lizard makes its way out.

[insects chirping] Cape dwarf babies are very small.

The mother is barely five inches long.

It's a catch-as-catch-can world.

Mom takes no interest in their future.

It can't fall far among the vines.

She has given birth to some 6 to 10 babies and all must find their feet on their own.

[insects chirping] In times past, chameleons have suffered when insecticides were sprayed on the vines, or were killed by mechanical grape harvesting.

But why kill so efficient a natural bug hunter?

These days, money is saved on chemicals, and the chameleons do all the work.

Plenty of chameleons means fewer pests.

In these vineyards, they now look after grapes and Cape dwarf chameleons.

The valuable reptiles are carefully removed before mechanical harvesting begins.

They're taken to nearby woods where they can hunt while the grapes are gathered.

They'll make their own way back after the harvest.

In Central America, lizards are big business in different ways.

These men in Costa Rica are hunting iguanas in the rainforest.

Green iguanas are a traditional source of meat in a country with no large wild animals and where protein is in short supply.

Today, they're also big money in the foreign pet trade.

An iguana at the top of this tree will be caught by its own escape method.

Frightened, it will leap for safety.

If it survives, it may become another of more than 10 million iguanas exported as pets in the last eight years.

In some countries, trafficing lizards is depleting stocks at an alarming rate.

[dramatic music] When night falls, lizards face new predators.

They can be sitting targets for nocturnal hunters.

[bright music] [ethereal vocalizing] And in a Mexican desert, even sunrise brings problems for a desert night lizard.

Dusk and dawn are times favored by many predators for hunting.

[mellow music] [suspenseful music] Too slow to escape, off comes its tail, and the scorpion has something for its trouble, while the night lizard lives to grow a new one.

But the next tail it grows won't detach as readily.

Unlike a cat, the lizard has only two lives, not nine.

Scorpions, despite their sting, are not a problem meal for an agama lizard in Africa.

It may have some immunity to the sting, but it's always careful to bite it off before it swallows.

In Baja, California, one lizard will eat another.

It's high noon, and there's a standoff between a collared lizard and a sideblotched.

The collared one watches only for movement, just like some dinosaurs are thought to have done.

[dramatic music] A chameleon seeking warmth at sun-up finds enough energy to make breakfast of another basker that's not yet up to speed.

[mellow music] It never knew what hit it, and the chameleon gets a full breakfast.

[insects chirping] In this dog-eat-dog world of lizards, is it possible that dragons eat dragons?

The answer is yes, and it's his own family he's after.

Young Komodos need to keep out of an adult's way.

Being small, a youngster can climb trees.

But the adult knows something's up there, and it may fall out of the branches.

[insects chirping] [Komodo dragon growls] There's no point in waiting around.

There'll be food elsewhere.

Young or old, Komodo dragons are not animals you'd expect to see in a zoo.

- No, no, you can't climb up on to my head, no.

- [Narrator] Phil Brower and Kraken the Komodo are a favorite attraction at the National Zoo in Washington.

This is Phil's rather dramatic day job.

- I have a real good relationship with Kraken.

She's by far my favorite animal here.

She's not like that with everyone.

There's a few keepers where she acts a little aggressive towards, where she'll whip her tail or kinda puff up at them, which tells me they're also very intelligent animals, where they can actually recognize people and almost bond towards them a little bit.

[people chattering indistinctly] Getting ready to feed Kraken now.

Have a few rats we're gonna go ahead and give to her.

[whistles] Kraken!

[whistles] We actually have her trained where I whistle, and then she's actually come to the point where anytime she hears a whistle, she knows right away that she's gonna get fed and she'll start running back and forth, and I have some four-foot tongs where I'll put the rat on the end of that and feed it to her.

Oh, oh, oh it's a rat!

Oh, let me have it, please!

Oh, you're so hungry, aren't you?

Oh, I know, it's been a whole week since you've been fed.

Oh, it's a rat!

Got that faster than I had planned.

Oh, it's another rat.

- [Narrator] Kraken gets well-exercised being fed like this.

Phil uses the grabstick because she gets very excited.

But her bite would not be as dangerous as her wild relatives'.

Fresh meat does not give her the poisonous bacteria in her saliva.

- We've got the tail here.

Had enough?

Okay, never mind.

See you later, Kraken.

See you tomorrow.

- [Narrator] Our fascination for lizards, large or small, is worldwide.

Questions about keeping pet lizards pour into Henry Lizardlover's home in Los Angeles.

His lizard-mail is never ending, but that's what Henry and his lizards love.

- I've got an e-mail here from a woman that's telling me about some real aggression problems she's having with her pet male iguana.

He was mellow in the beginning, and now he's starting to stalk and try to attack her.

For the past 10 years or so, I've been getting so many letters and phone calls from people.

They're always asking questions about diet, about behavior.

A lot of times there're people sharing information about their experiences with iguanas.

I try to help them when I can.

Not all these behavior problems are easy to deal with when it comes to iguanas.

This guy right here, this iguana is, he's very mellow and easygoing, but things can change and become just crazy aggressive, like they're gonna attack a human.

And I'd like to show you what that looks like when he sees another male iguana.

Let's go over here.

I want you to see the potential problem there is with keeping some of these iguanas, especially when the males see other male iguanas, and this is why I keep them separate.

Now, I'm gonna show this guy to Seven inside the room.

They're really ready to do battle.

These two iguanas would love to tear each other apart.

They'd kill each other.

Mr.

Seven is really worked up.

Ooh boy, he's really worked up.

He's doing the full tail waggle and he's taking a stance, he's standing up, he's sucking in his gut.

These are all the signs, the body language of rage and anger towards another male iguana.

Now, see, now, they'll do this to a human sometimes and bite, and that bite is really intense.

See, now, that's not the time to try to pet him.

Okay, wow.

Okay, wow, that's really wild.

It's a very wild, serious behavior.

Now, this iguana, since he's seen other male iguanas, it's my theory that when the males are able to grow up as a captive pet and they see other male iguanas, then they won't be confused about a human, and they won't try to attack a human.

The problem is that a lot of people raise these males alone without ever seeing other male iguanas, and that's when these male iguanas will be confused and they will actually attack and stalk humans and try to attack them and viciously bite them like they would another male iguana.

But he's really a good guy.

He knows that I'm not that other male iguana.

I'm gonna put him down now and let him rest.

Here we go.

That looks good.

- [Narrator] Henry Lizardlover may take his love of lizards beyond where most of us would go, but colorful, diverse, and intriguing as these reptiles are, they can inspire all our imaginations.

[bright music] - This lizard here has a beautiful face with just the right kind of look in her eyes, and these are very nice proportioned hands and arms and legs.

She looks great, she looks very human-like.

Okay, that's good.

Okay, hold it right there, that's good.

Don't look at me, look the other way.

[camera shutter clicks] Those beautiful eyes.

She will sit in any position I put her in, just because she's calm and relaxed.

There's no tricks, she's not hypnotized, she's not afraid, she doesn't think anything is gonna hurt her in any way, and she's just calm and relaxed.

[mellow music] [lips smacking] - [Announcer] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.

- As you can see, all the hard spines are pointing outwards, and the limbs are covering the soft belly.

So it simply lies there and waits for the predator to get bored.

Then it uncoils and runs back into the safety of the crevice.

That's the armadillo lizard.

- [Phil] Oh, oh, oh, it's a rat.

Oh, let me have it, please.

Oh, you're so hungry, aren't you?

Oh, I know.

It's been a whole week since you've been fed.

- Hello, my name is Henry.

These are my lizards, and I love them more than anything.

- [Son] Right here.

Come on, Dad.

Right here.

- Can you excuse me just a minute, I think we've got one.

[bright music]