Reptiles
Sungazer
Smaug giganteus · also called sungazer, giant girdled lizard, ouvolk
The sungazer is a squat, flattened lizard armoured from head to tail in rows of hard, backward-pointing spines, with a particularly fearsome crown of spikes on its head. It lives in the open grasslands of central South Africa, and unlike its rock-dwelling relatives it digs its own long burrows, spending hours at the entrance with its head tilted skyward — the pose that gives it its name.
Overview
The sungazer is endemic to the Highveld grasslands of central South Africa, mainly the Free State and southern Mpumalanga, on flat, deep-soiled, unploughed grassland. It is one of the largest girdled lizards, about 15–18 cm snout to vent and up to 38 cm including the tail, with a heavy, flat, spiny body.
Armour and burrow
The head carries a crown of long spines, and the body and tail are ringed with enlarged, keeled, spiky scales. Most girdled lizards shelter in rock cracks, but the sungazer excavates its own tunnel, up to 2 m long, in open soil, and may use the same burrow for years. Threatened, it bolts inside, puffs up, and presents its spines to the entrance — very hard to dig out or bite.
The sun-gazing pose
It sits for long periods at the burrow mouth with the front of its body raised and its snout angled upward, warming its forequarters while keeping its tail in the cool tunnel and watching for predators and prey.
A slow breeder
Females bear just one or two live young, every two to three years — among the lowest reproductive rates of any lizard, so populations recover very slowly.
Status
The sungazer is Vulnerable and declining. Ploughing of grassland destroys whole colonies, and illegal collection for the pet trade and traditional medicine takes animals the slow-breeding population cannot replace. Its genus name, Smaug, was taken in 2011 from the dragon in The Hobbit.
Sungazer: common questions
Why is it called a sungazer?
Because of a very characteristic posture. A sungazer spends much of the day sitting at the entrance of its burrow with its head and the front of its body propped up and its snout angled upward toward the sky. To an observer it looks as if the lizard is gazing at the sun. In reality the pose serves two practical purposes — it lets the lizard warm the front of its body in the sunshine while keeping its hindquarters in the cool burrow mouth, and it gives it a raised vantage point from which to watch for predators and for the insects it eats. The same behaviour gives it the Afrikaans name ouvolk, meaning old folk, and the older scientific name that translated as sun-watcher.
How does the sungazer defend itself?
Primarily by combining armour with its burrow. The lizard is covered in rows of hard, keeled, spiny scales, with an especially formidable crown of long spikes on the head and a heavily spined tail. When alarmed it bolts into its tunnel head-first and then braces itself, puffing up its body and presenting its spiky back and tail to the entrance. A predator trying to dig it out or drag it free is faced with a wedge of spines that is painful to bite and very difficult to grip. If actually caught in the open, the sungazer will also lash with its spiny tail and bite hard.
Why is the sungazer threatened?
Two main reasons. First, habitat loss. The lizard lives only in flat Highveld grassland on good soils, which is exactly the land most in demand for crops, and once grassland is ploughed the burrow systems are destroyed and the colony is gone, unable to recolonise tilled fields. Much of its original range has already been converted. Second, collection. Sungazers are taken illegally for the international pet trade and for traditional medicine, and because they breed so slowly, producing at most one or two young every two to three years, even a low level of removal outpaces the population's ability to replace itself. Mining, power lines, and roads add further pressure.
Can sungazers be bred in captivity?
Only with great difficulty, and rarely. They are slow to mature, reproduce infrequently, produce tiny litters, and are sensitive to conditions, so captive breeding has had very limited success and does not come close to meeting demand from the pet trade. This is a serious conservation problem, because it means that most sungazers offered for sale, legally or not, have been taken from the wild, directly reducing the remaining populations. Conservation efforts therefore concentrate on protecting grassland habitat and enforcing trade restrictions rather than relying on captive stock.