Starred agama
Common Name: Starred agama
Scientific Name: Stellagama stellio
This species is able to change colour, and they often turn lighter when they are warm and darker when they are cold.
Starred agamas are usually light or dark brown or grey, but dominant males may be brightly coloured and often have reddish-brown, turquoise, and pale brown markings.
Fast Facts
-
Status
Least Concern
-
Size
Length: 30cm
-
Gestation
2 months
-
Young
3-12 eggs are laid
-
Life span
Up to 6 years
In the wild
Starred agamas are opportunistic feeders, and will eat a large variety of prey, particularly insects such as ants, bees, and wasps, as well as other invertebrates such as snails. They will also eat plant material and even occasionally small lizards or hatchling birds.
These lizards are found across a wide area, including in Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Egypt. They live in a variety of rocky arid and semi-arid areas, often in mountainous or coastal regions.
Starred agamas usually breed between March and early June. They dig a nest in the ground to lay their eggs in. Females may lay up to two clutches of eggs a year.
Apart from raptors, the only known predator of the starred agama is the sand goanna, the largest species of monitor lizard in Australia.
Starred agamas are categorized as Least Concern by the IUCN because they are found across a wide range of areas and there are currently no major threats to the species. They are also found in many protected areas.
