Amazing Animal Insights

Sherry Seethaler

Reptile Romeos

We live in a home surrounded by a plethora of lizards. In observing them, I began to wonder, why do they do “pushups” while sunning themselves?

They are displaying athletic flamboyance like their human counterparts at Venice Beach. Depending on the nuances, lizard pushups may convey “I’m too tough to mess with” or “Hey, ladies, check me out.” Body language is a rich form of communication for lizard jocks and jockettes.

Other lizards can glean useful information from the unique characteristics of the pushups: overall body posture, pattern of head bobs, and how the legs stretch and flex. For example, the number of pushups performed by a male in a territorial interaction corresponds with his ...