Details
Agama agama
The common agama is a diurnal lizard often seen on rocks, walls, and settlements in Africa. Breeding males can be strikingly colorful.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It inhabits Afrotropical savanna, grassland, and urban areas. Rocks, walls, logs, basking sites, and nearby refuges are important.
Total length 15-30 cm; weight 40-100 g. The body is sturdy, and breeding males may show an orange head with a blue body. Females and young are browner and more cryptic.
Diurnal and loosely social, it often basks in visible spots. Males use head-bobbing displays to signal territory and rank.
An omnivore, it eats mainly insects, with some plant material and fruit. It chases moving prey on the ground and walls.
Females dig holes in the ground and lay eggs. Hatchlings grow by balancing sunny basking sites with quick retreats to cover.
It is listed as Least Concern. It adapts well to towns and is one of the more familiar African lizards near people.
