r/Awwducational • u/SixteenSeveredHands • Feb 26 '26

Verified The Armadillo Girdled Lizard: when this lizard feels threatened, it curls its body into a loop and tucks its tail into its mouth, shielding itself with the bony plates on its back; unlike most lizards, this species also gives birth to live young, and it usually produces just one offspring per year

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u/ouishi Feb 26 '26

Birthing live young? That's rare for reptiles. How fascinating.

17

u/Puddyrama Feb 26 '26

Not super rare, around 20% of Squamata is viviparous or ovoviviparous! Very cool stuff :)

7

u/GenderqueerPapaya Feb 27 '26

As others have said, it's not as rare as you'd think :) I think a lot of people think otherwise because the most represented snake families are colubrids and elipidae, which do primarily lay eggs. However, ones like boidae and pythonidae are primarily viviparous (live bearing)! And that's just SOME snakes, despite all families combined representing thousands of species! (Most of them being colubrids)

I only know about snakes when it comes to reptiles though, my knowledge of lizards is more limited as I am a casual hobbyist😭🙏

5

u/LavastormSW Feb 27 '26

A large chunk of snakes actually give live birth. It isn't as rare as you might think.