The Jesus Christ Lizard: A Lizard That Can "Walk" On Water

Welcome to another post of my strange animals series where you get to meet some of the weirdest, coolest, and craziest animals in the world.

Today I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite lizards, the common basilisk. Scientifically described as Basiliscus basiliscus, on the outside this fella doesn't look anything special:

Male B. basiliscus

So what's so special about it? Well, its' common name, the "jesus christ list" definitely gives us a hint.

Walking on water is one of the best known miracles of Jesus recounted in the New Testament. And this lizard can do the exact same thing... well short of. It can't walk but it can run on water!

I am sure there are many doubting Thomases reading these lines, so here are some videos showing this amazing ability:

As the last video showed, the jesus christ lizard mainly uses the ability to run on water to flee from predators. But how does it achieves this amazing feat? Here's how it works:

Basilisks have large hind feet with scaly fringes on the sides of the third, fourth, and fifth toes. These are compressed against the toes when this lizard walks on land; but if it senses danger, it can jump into the water, opening up these fringes against the water's surface. This increases the surface area of the foot, thus allowing it to run on the water for short distances.This occurs in three steps. First is the slap, the downward movement of the foot that pushes water out and away from the leg. This also created pockets of air around the foot. Next is the stroke, the backwards movement of the foot, which propels it forward. Next is the recovery, when the foot comes up and out of the water and prepares to do the slap again. [source]

Depending on their age and size, these lizards can run on water a distance of 15 feet (about 4,5 meters) or more. Generally, juvenile lizards can run larger distances. Once gravity hits of and all momentum is lost the lizards can resort to swimming, they are very good at it! In most cases, the distance they have covered by running is more than enough to escape danger. Their ability to climb trees also comes in handy sometimes.

Other than its amazing ability to run water there's not much else really special to say about this animal so I will close this post with some basic facts about it:

Distribution & Habitat: The species is very common in Central America, from Mexico into South America, found in rainforests, near rivers and streams.
Size and Appearance: They are relatively large lizards, with adults growing up to 80 cm. The tail comprises 70 to 75% of the total body length. Both sexes are brown to olive, and males feature crests on their heads and tails to attract females.
Diet: They are omnivorous animals, with their diet consisting of small insects (like beetles and dragon flies), flowers, small vertebrates, eggs, fish and various fruits.
Behavior: They are diurnal animals (most active during the day) hunting using a sit-and-wait strategy. They spend most of the day near water, which they use to their advantage when fleeing from danger. In the night they rest on branches. Males are territorial and commonly bob their heads as a courtship gesture.
Reproduction: Females become sexual mature at the age of about 20 months old, while it takes a bit less for males, about 16 months. However, it may take up to 4 years for a male to mate, until it has reached sufficient status in the hierarchy. Mating takes place almost all year round except for January and February and females lay 5 to 8 clutches of eggs which hatch about 90 days later.

See ya in the next post, in the meantime here's a cute baby lizard:

(credit)

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