237 City Slickin' Wall Lizards

About this episode

This episode discusses how urban wall lizards in Croatia have adapted their social behaviors compared to rural lizards, along with a listener's story about lizards eating pizza.

Urban areas represent both opportunities and risks for animals, and they adapt their behaviour in many ways to cope with this fast-paced lifestyle. Now, a new study has detailed how urban wall lizards in Croatia have richer social lives than their rural counterparts. Then we chat about a listener-submitted story detailing wild lizards eating pizza. Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/herphighlights/shop Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Maune AL, Wittenbreder T, Lisičić D, Caspers BA, Camerlenghi E, Damas-Moreira I. 2025. City lizards are more social. Biology Letters 21:20250326. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0326. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Dendi, D., Segniagbeto, G. H., Meek, R., & Luiselli, L. (2023). Opportunistic foraging strategy of rainbow lizards at a seaside resort in Togo. African Journal of Ecology, 61(1), 226-227. Editing and Music: Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

Topics covered

• urban ecology
• lizard behavior
• social behavior
• wildlife adaptation

Keywords

• urban wall lizards
• Croatia
• listener story
• pizza

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Patreon, Merch

Places: Croatia, Togo

More episodes of Herpetological Highlights

• 247 Big Brains Ain't Free · May 12, 2026 · 37 min
• 246 Salamanders vs Volcanoes · May 6, 2026 · 39 min
• 245 A Vegetation Investigation · April 14, 2026 · 33 min
• 244 Frogs Bringing the Pain · April 10, 2026 · 41 min
• 243 Pythons are Seed Pipelines · March 10, 2026 · 25 min
• 242 Spot the Viper to Survive · March 3, 2026 · 37 min