Plateau Lizard

Zion's Everyday Lizard

Gray to brown with variable dark crossbars and blotches, the plateau lizard is small - 6 to 7 inches counting the tail - and covered in spiny, keeled scales that give it a rough, textured look up close. Breeding males show off two blue patches on the throat and blue-edged patches along the belly, visible if one pauses on a rock long enough to look.

This is the lizard doing push-ups on the trailside boulder, the one that vanishes into a crack the instant you get close, and the one skittering across the Watchman Trail or Canyon Overlook rock at almost any time of day in warm months. Zion's population was long lumped in with the wider fence lizard group, but is now recognized as its own species tied to the Colorado Plateau.

Where & When to Find One

Plateau lizards turn up practically everywhere in the park with rock, wood, or sun - boulder fields, canyon walls, fallen logs, even fence posts and trailside retaining walls. They're active from spring through fall, most visible at midday when the rock is warm, and become scarce in winter.

Telling It Apart From Other Small Lizards

The spiny, keeled scales are the giveaway - run a finger lightly over dry ground-color scales elsewhere and they'll feel smooth by comparison. The similar-sized side-blotched lizard lacks the rough scales and has a distinctive dark blotch behind each front leg, which the plateau lizard doesn't show.