More Madeiran Wall Lizards enjoying some banana peel left on a wall at a viewpoint. This lot were very exciting, and one of them bit me!
They seemed to be VERY used to people and looked as if they had developed an association between people and food, certainly those that had left the banana peel there seemed to have done so for the lizards and there were loads of them on this one wall, it seemed to be a bit of a tourist attraction too! You could get very close to them, and in fact they would approach you! Hence how I ended up being bitten, I put my hand in front of my camera because I thought one was going to jump onto my lens and it decided to have a go at my finger. It didn't break the skin or anything, I actually thought it was quite funny though I did wash my hands with some antibacterial handwash afterwards. Another one started "chasing" a lady who was wearing sandals who was hopping around with this little lizard running at her. Though I wasn't at all impressed when the woman started stamping at the lizard. Don't like it, get back in the car you stupid woman!
I don't know how much they have been getting fed by people, but there were certainly a good number of lizards there and it was here that I saw the largest wall lizards! I never really considered before that wild lizards would start associating people with food, I know pet reptiles will make this association but I never really expected wild reptiles to do this, but this has certainly changed my view!
There was quite a bit of fighting going on between them too, which was fascinating to watch as they arched their backs at each other. If you look at the lizards in some of the photos, they are missing toes probably as a result of this fighting.
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Superb photos Kat!! Lovely observations too! (I agree about the stupid woman though!) Very interesting to hear that it is possible to get close to them like it! What a privilege! I've only ever seen the little wall lizard in the UK and in France and also the green lizard in France (Stunningly beautiful) but all have taken some amount of stalking or patient waiting!
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You'll like Madeira then - lizards EVERYWHERE and in the right places (where there are plenty of people) it is possible to get reall close to them. At the site in the photos, one of the lizards actually jumped onto a guy that was standing there. Still takes a bit of patience, move to fast and that's it they're off but as long as I moved nice and slow and calmly they were quite happy to continue doing what they were doing and also posing for the camera a bit. They really were excellent subjects. Hence I took over 2 GB of lizard photos if I remember rightly...oops!
Superb photos Kat!
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Nature Is Amazing - Let Us Keep It That Way
Brilliant photos.
Cheers, Linda.
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Really enjoyed seeing those photographs, even the missing toes !
Well I'm just going to have to try to get sooner rather than later then!! (With plenty of GBs!!!)
KatTai said: You'll like Madeira then - lizards EVERYWHERE and in the right places (where there are plenty of people) it is possible to get reall close to them. At the site in the photos, one of the lizards actually jumped onto a guy that was standing there. Still takes a bit of patience, move to fast and that's it they're off but as long as I moved nice and slow and calmly they were quite happy to continue doing what they were doing and also posing for the camera a bit. They really were excellent subjects. Hence I took over 2 GB of lizard photos if I remember rightly...oops!
love the pictures :) im going to try and get out here next year and see the wildlife as well as the amazing geography as for the stupid woman i would probaly have been tempted to ask her how she would like to be stamped on but you always get one person who is ignorant i recently saw the lovely little italian wall lizards in capri and lots of moorish geckos as well great little animals :)
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Great story, great photos!
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