Adaptation as a Way of Animal Survival

Imagine being a Bald Eagle searching for food, you finally see a fresh plump Chuckwalla. You dive down and the Chuckwalla quickly runs under a rock, you think, “ He just cornered himself. The Chuckwalla seems like an easy catch so you decide to reach in and get it, but you can’t get it. He is stuck. Adaptations are things animals do or have that affects their survival like how some animals have mouthparts specialized for chewing, tearing or grinding. Chuckwallas have some incredible adaptations.

In case you didn’t know Chuckwallas are a type of lizard that live mostly in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts in western United States. We will discuss the incredible egg placement of the Chuckwalla. We will also uncover the strange mysteries of how Chuckwallas raise their body temperature and amazing techniques for escaping predators.

Chuckwallas have an amazing adaptation where they strategically place their eggs underground. This adaptation protects the eggs from predators and the scorching desert sun. This can protect the baby Chuckwallas from death or injury. If Chuckwallas didn’t do this their babies may no be able to grow up and the Chuckwalla population could drop tremendously. What a great parent.

Like all undomesticated cold-blooded animals Chuckwallas rely on the sun to raise their overall body temperature. If the temperature is very low Chuckwallas aren’t active and if too low, they could die. The Chuckwalla has a great technique for raising his body temperature. The Chuckwalla simply goes out on a rock and basks their and lets the sun do the work. Since the sun warms the rock also, his underside is warmed as well. The Chuckwalla will stop when his prefered body temperature reaches 100 to 105 degrees. This is a very interesting adaptation that allows the Chuckwalla to thrive in its environment.

One of the most interesting adaptations of the Chuckwalla is the fact that it can puff air into its loose skin and make it look bigger, but more importantly get itself stuck in a rock crevice. The reason the Chuckwalla gets itself stuck is so that predators cannot pull it out. This may seem strange but it is very useful to the chuckwalla especially since there are many predators. The Chuckwalla gulps in masses of air so that it inflates its lungs so much it makes its skin puff out. This a very interesting adaptation and it is very rare to this animal because very few if any have this adaptation.

As you can see, Chuckwallas have some incredible adaptations that help it thrive in its environment. Some of the adaptations are common among other animals and some rarer to the Chuckwalla. I’m sure it will be interesting as you take a closer the correct egg placement of the Chuckwalla, the superb techniques for warming their body temperature, and the incredible adaptation of puffing out their skin. 

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