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Whistling Lizard

Calotes liolepis

Photo by Bhagya Herath
Published on Project Noah
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7.46698, 80.929

Field Notes

Description:

An endemic lizard to Sri Lanka
distributed in South-Western wet lowlands, sub-montane areas and few isolated places of dry lowlands (Such as Nilgala,Ritigala, Monaragala, Yala etc.). It is highly arboreal species and inhabits shaded areas of forests, well wooded home gardens and plantations. Whistling lizard has an unusual habit of uttering a high pitched whistling sound when alarmed. Hence its vernacular name. It feeds mainly on insects.

Habitat:

found on a tree bark in an abandoned tea estate at the edge of the Knuckles mountain range, a part of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka which is declared as a world Heritage Natural site....

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (19)
Jim Nelson
I am impressed...great job on this one!
Liana
I like the green stripes on this fella. Thank you for the info and for sharing Bhagya :)
Bhagya Herath
Thanks Daniele and Mark... nop Mark we didnt hear the whistling sound unfortunately...
Mark Ridgway
Very nice spotting Bhagya. Does it do request tunes?
DanielePralong
Nice series Bhagya! Thanks for having added the interesting habitat information :-)
Bhagya Herath
Thanks Maria.. this was taken in an abandoned tea estate at the edge of the Knuckles mountain range, a part of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka which is declared as a world Heritage Natural site....
Maria dB
Very nice series. Where did you see it? A nature reserve?
Fyn Kynd
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
Sew
aaaah...awesome bhagi...

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Reptiles of the World
Mission
Biodiversity of Sri Lanka
Mission
National Geographic's Great Nature Project
Mission
Lizards of Sri Lanka
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 14, 2014

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