9 Common LIZARDS found in Niger! (ID GUIDE)

Do you want to learn about the different kinds of lizards in Niger?

Types of lizards in Niger

If so, you’ve come to the right place! In the article below, I have listed the lizards you can expect to see. For each species, you’ll find out how to identify that lizard correctly, along with pictures and interesting facts!

9 Lizards That Live IN Niger:


#1. Nile Monitor

  • Varanus niloticus

Types of lizards in Niger

How to identify:

  • Length: Between 47 – 86 inches (119 to 218 cm).
  • Lifespan: Between 10 and 20 Years.
  • Nile Monitors have prominent skin patterns; both males and females are grey/brown on top and have green/yellow barring on their tails. Both sexes have large, greenish-yellow spots on their backs, and their underside and throats are creamy-yellow.

Nile Monitors are one of the largest and most spectacular lizards to observe in Niger.

Look for them roaming near a permanent water source near woodlands, scrubs, evergreen thickets, mangroves, and swamps. Nile Monitors feed on frogs, toads, rodents, small turtles, birds, eggs, insects, and fish.

Luckily, the Nile Monitor is a lizard, not a human; otherwise, society would frown upon its polygamous behavior. Both males and females mate with several other partners.

After mating, the female takes a break from the males and makes a suitable nest in termite borrows or digs a hole near water where she lays up to 60 eggs. The female is patient during the incubation process, which lasts six to nine months. The baby monitors dig their way to freedom, or the female digs them out, and after three to four years, they are ready to mate themselves.


#2. Rainbow Agama

  • Agama agama

Types of lizards in Niger

How to identify:

  • Length: Between 5.1 and 11.8 inches (13 to 30 cm).
  • Lifespan: 25 years.
  • The Rainbow Agama is white underneath, and its back limbs are brown with a light stripe running down the middle of its tail. Males have a yellow tail and head with a blue body.

Rainbow Agamas love hot and dry areas in Niger!

In fact, they stay active all day except when the temperature skyrockets to over 100°F (38ºC) in the shade. They mainly feed on insects like ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and termites, but they won’t say no to a small mammal, flower, or fruit.

Like chameleons, the Rainbow Agama uses its tongue to catch its prey. The tip of the Agama’s tongue has sticky mucous glands, enabling it to feed on ants and small insects.

The female produces thermoregulated embryos, meaning that the embryos are able to maintain a normal internal temperature. However, during incubation, higher environmental temperatures result in the development of males, and lower temperatures result in the development of females.After hatching, the youngsters are independent and must fend for themselves until they reach maturity after 14-18 months.


#3. African Five-lined Skink

  • Trachylepis quinquetaeniata

Types of lizards in Niger

How to identify:

  • Females are dark brown and sometimes black, with five longitudinal yellowish stripes that extend from head to tail and include whitish spots. The yellowish stripes on the tail gradually change to blue.
  • Males are lighter and do not have stripes but have a light blue stripe on the side of their neck and upper lip.

These small blue-tailed lizards prefer grassland and rocky areas in Niger.

Look for African Five-lined Skinks roaming on trees, walls, fences, and buildings. They are often found high up on walls and rocks where they bask in the afternoon sun.

They breed in the summer, where the female lays between 6-10 eggs. The female is protective and will sometimes stay with the nest during incubation.


#4. African Chameleon

  • Chamaeleo africanus

Types of lizards in Niger

How to identify:

  • Length: Up to 18 in (46 cm).
  • Lifespan: Between 2 and 10 Years.
  • The African Chameleon is mostly green and covered with black spots but can change color like most Chameleons.

The African Chameleon, also called “Sahel Chameleon,” is named after Sahel, a region between the Sahara and the Sudanian savanna. These lizards prefer to hide in reeds and shrubs in Niger and are often seen on low branches of trees.

With its four-toed feet and prehensile tail, the African Chameleon slowly moves through the branches until it finds its next meal, consisting mainly of insects that it catches with its sticky tongue.

The male roams the lower branches of trees during the breeding season to find a suitable female to mate with. After mating, the female leaves the security of the tree and goes down to the ground to dig a hole to lay her eggs in. The female lays up to 70 eggs, taking about three months before the youngsters appear.


#5. Antillean House Gecko

  • Hemidactylus angulatus

lizards

  • Length: 2.2 inches (5.6 cm).
  • Lifespan: Up to 7 years.

The Antillean House Gecko is no stranger to humans in Niger!

This lizard prefers the safety and shelter of urban settings like towns, cities, and airports. They are great climbers and love roaming walls and stones where they hunt at night, where they sit close to the light and wait for their next meal. Naturally, they are mostly found in trees, where they rest beneath the bark of trees during the day.

The Antillean House Gecko is nocturnal and feeds on cockroaches, arthropods, larvae, and insects.


#6. Speckle-lipped Mabuya

  • Trachylepis maculilabris

lizards

How to identify:

  • They have a brown back and a thin yellow rim surrounding their ear opening.
  • Both sexes look similar.

The Speckle-lipped Mabuya, often called the Speckle-lipped Skink, is diurnal, meaning it is mostly active during the day. These lizards enjoy hot areas in Niger and often bask on a rock or log under the intense sun.

The Speckle-lipped Mabuya prefer areas that are well protected from the elements and are often seen in buildings like houses, garages, and floor apartments. In nature, they find safety in thick foliage but often climb rocks to sun themselves or find a female or food.


#7. Peters’s Rock Agama

  • Agama picticauda

peters rock agama

How to identify:

  • Length: About 12 inches (31 cm).
  • They have tan limbs with a light underside. It has a stripe running through the middle of its tail with six to seven dark spots on the side.
  • Males are larger than females.
  • Dominant males have a yellow head and tail with a blue body. Subordinate females and males are distinguishable by their olive-green heads.

Peters’s Rock Agama prefers areas in Niger with a lot of vegetation. They are semi-arboreal terrestrial, meaning they spend half of the day on the ground and the other half in trees, making the humid savanna forest their favorite habitat. But stay on alert because they are also often seen in urban areas.

Peters’s Rock Agamas are opportunistic hunters that spend most of the day in tree branches waiting for prey. When a spider, cricket, grasshopper, or ant passes close to the lizard, it quickly strikes to devour its meal.


#8. Fire-sided Skink

  • Trachylepis perrotetii

fire sided skink

How to identify:

  • The back is bronze or olive-brown with small black spots, and it has orange-red sides with white specks and a light belly.
  • The male and female look similar, but the male’s colors are brighter.

The Fire-sided Skink is a large lizard in Niger weighing up to 200 grams (7 oz). Its color, size, narrow head, and long neck easily identify it. They are mostly found in urban areas with high grassy vegetation, hiding in old rodent burrows and underneath rocks.

The Fire-sided Skink has a healthy omnivorous diet and feeds on various insects and fruits, but the larger adults will even eat baby mice.

Once the male and female have mated, the eggs develop within the female. And then, since this species is ovoviviparous, the eggs mature and hatch internally, resulting in live offspring. The female produces between five and nine babies and protects them for about three weeks until they can fend for themselves.


#9. Bosc’s Fringe-toed Lizard

  • Acanthodactylus boskianus

bosc fringed toed lizard

How to identify:

  • They have five dark longitudinal stripes, and the middle stripe subdivides at the neck with an olive-grey dorsal.
  • The males are larger than females. The female’s tail underside becomes red through the breeding period.

Bosc’s Fringe-toed Lizards are extremely active hunters in Niger and mainly feed on insects.

When the breeding season arrives, the males set out to secure a female, and she is very particular with whom she mates. Chemicals exude from femoral glands and play a role in sex recognition, courtship, and communication. Males with larger heads are the thing that makes a Bosc’s Fringe-toed Lizard female’s heartbeat faster.

Once the male secures a female, he is extremely territorial and will often discourage other males through aggression.


Do you want to learn MORE about animals in Niger?

Check out these ID Guides!


Which of these lizards in Niger is your favorite?

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