Ocellated Lizard

It is the largest lizard native to Europe. A mature male typically measures 20 to 25 cm from snout to vent, with the tail roughly doubling that, so total lengths of 60 to 90 cm are normal and the biggest individuals approach a metre, weighing up to around 0.5 kg. Females are smaller and less heavily built. This makes the ocellated lizard two to three times the length of a large wall lizard and noticeably bigger and bulkier than the green lizards, with a proportionally massive head, especially in old males. Only introduced species and the occasional escaped monitor lizard exceed it in Europe.

Not in the sense of being venomous or a threat to life, but it can hurt you. A large ocellated lizard has a heavy, muscular head and powerful jaws built for crushing beetles and snail shells, and a cornered or grabbed individual will bite hard and hang on, easily breaking the skin and leaving a bruise. It may also lash with its tail and claw. In the wild it is wary and will normally flee to a burrow or wall before a person gets close. The sensible approach is to watch it from a distance and not attempt to catch or handle it, both for your sake and to avoid stressing a declining species.

For the row of blue spots along its sides. Each spot, called an ocellus, is a rounded patch of bright blue scales, often with a dark ring, and a line of them runs down each flank against the green and black of the body. Depending on the light and the season, particularly on a breeding male, these can glow an intense turquoise or cobalt, so the animal looks studded with jewels or watched over by a line of blue eyes, which is where the names ocellated, eyed, and jewelled lizard all come from. The pattern probably serves in signalling to rivals and mates and may also confuse a predator about which end is the head.

Several pressures act together across its range. The spread of intensive agriculture has removed the mosaic of scrub, rough grassland, hedge banks, and old walls it needs, replacing it with bare, chemically treated monocultures. Roads cut through its habitat and kill large numbers, since a slow-moving heavy lizard crossing a warm road surface is very vulnerable. It is still sometimes killed by people who fear its bite or dislike reptiles. The widespread collapse of European rabbit populations, from disease, has removed both a food source and the burrow systems it relies on. And a fungal skin disease has been recorded in some populations. In France in particular the species is now scarce and localised.