Common Chuckwalla, Sauromalus ater, Order Squamata. Documented along Titus Canyon in Death Valley National Park, California, USA
Uploading a few of these... each a different part of Death Valley.
108 degrees at 5:42pm. I’m driving, 50 mph speed limit, rocky landscape on either side of me. To my right, about 1/2 a mile away, there’s some canyons. It’s 108 degrees with the sun out, not really expecting to see any wildlife. Anyways, this chuckwalla DARTS IN FRONT OF ME out of a flat rocky area, I had no time to react. I thought for sure I hit it but didn’t hear a noise. I look in my review mirror and see it in the road, I turn around to go look at it and I DIDNT HIT IT! It scurries off the road and onto the shoulder where I take pics. Its tail seems to have been cut off at some other point in its life and healed over. Or just peeling(?). It sits there. I go back to my vehicle to grab a glove so I can inspect it to make sure it is okay. I come back and the chuckwalla sees the glove - it knows I’m gonna pick it up. It runs under a creosote bush and hides🤣I’m pretty sure it was okay and just shaken up haha Anyone would have been in disbelief to see a chuck in that area, at that temperature I am sure! Practically flat desert.
Immature Common Chuckwalla sunning on the rocks.
location close but not exact
location close but not exact
location close but not exact
location close but not exact