The bizzare legless lizard that resembles a snake

Try recalling the lizards you are familiar with, and you will realize they all have four legs. This is even though there are lizards that do not have legs. Most people confuse these lizards for snakes, even though they are not. Legless lizards evolved from legged lizards and have characteristics similar to them.

Legless lizards and snakes have some things in common, though. They both have scales and forked tongues. They also eat eggs and small animals like mice, though the legless lizards have a limit to what they can swallow because their jaws are not flexible like snakes. However, some species, like the Burton’s legless lizard, have flexible jaws and can even hiss and kill by constriction, just like snakes.

On the other hand, legless lizards have eyelids and ear openings, while snakes do not. They also move with their sides and cannot move with their belly scales like snakes. This is the reason why legless lizards cannot move on smooth surfaces. Legless lizards have longer tails than snakes and can even shed them when threatened. The shed tail often breaks into more than one piece, a sight that has been compared to shattering glass, which is why they are also called glass lizards. Snakes cannot shed their tails.

Content created and supplied by: Kenyancreatives (via Opera News )