beautifulbeasts

While none of the animals on the Galapagos has learned to fear man--excepting possibly the long-lived giant tortoises, some of whom might remember the days when their brothers and sisters were carried off to sailing vessels for provisions--the smaller creatures show an appropriate caution around anything quite as large as we are. A frigate bird will ignore your tromping right up to its nest, placid as a cow; but a tiny warbler finch flashes its wings and plunges into the brush in terror if you so much as look at it too long.

Lava lizards are speckled reptiles about the size of a green anole. Their coloration gives them many opportunities to hide in plain view, and often I realized one was near only when it sprinted into action and streaked across the rock, disappearing into a crack.

The females, although, as usual, the smaller gender, are easier to spot because of a bright red patch on the underside of their throats. The males have heavier bodies and limit themselves to earth tones.

I was trying to line up a shot of this lava lizard when he suddenly darted off, and I was afraid that I'd lost my chance. It pleased me enormously to discover that he had run only a few feet away and stopped again. It didn't occur to me that there simply wasn't a good hiding place for him to duck into; I assumed that his flight was lava-lizard-business-related, perhaps an interesting bug, and that he was peacefully indifferent to my fascination with him.

But when I thumped over to get my photograph, I was, as you can see in the shot, an object of immediate and intense scrutiny by the poor lava lizard, whose only option for further retreat was the dangerous open ground.

He decided to make a stand.

He pumped up and down in a rapid series of push-ups, staring directly at me to communicate in no uncertain terms:

I am three. Solid. Ounces. Of stone. Cold. Badness.

I hurriedly left him in peace. I admire his bravery, and I hope he thinks he intimidated me successfully.

Interestingly, the identical push-up dance is also used as a courtship display. Context determines how the message should be interpreted.