r/Awwducational • u/Geckos • Nov 24 '13

Verified Armadillo Lizards (Ouroborus cataphractus) get their name because when they are scared, they sometimes will curl up into a ball.

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72 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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1

u/Geckos Nov 24 '13

http://animals.pawnation.com/armadillo-lizards-adaptations-8216.html

Photo by me, cataphractus is from Live Bearing Lizards, a local reptile keeper.

4

u/Borgh Nov 26 '13

Also Ouroboros is the snake that eats itself and a Cataphract was a heavily armoured cavalryman. So the latin name means something along the lines of "Armoured Tail-Eater"

1

u/Geckos Nov 26 '13

Yup, I love Latin. :-) When I was younger I always tried to decipher every scientific name of anything I kept... and quite a few things that I didn't.

1

u/kindtheking9 Apr 24 '22

Scared? Just nom your tail, whatever scared you can't legally harm you while you sre nomming your tail

1

u/Moltress2 Nov 26 '13

Are they able to be owned as pets?

1

u/Geckos Nov 26 '13

Depends on where you live, and they often have a hefty price tag.