Image: Raja bandi · Wikimedia Commons (from iNaturalist) · CC BY 4.0 · Near Bikaner, Rajasthan, 7 February 2020 · Resized
What the sources say
- RajasthanA 2022 study across 20 plots in the Jorbeer-Gadhwala Conservation Reserve, Bikaner, looked at what the lizards eat.[6]
- RajasthanFour plants dominated the diet: Dactyloctenium, Heliotropium, Euphorbia and Aerva. Dactyloctenium made up 34 to 76% of it.[6]
- RajasthanInsects, mostly termites, appeared only in June and August, at about 16 to 18% of the diet by weight. The authors argue the lizard is not simply a plant eater.[6]
- RajasthanThe lizards are active from February to October and spend November to February hibernating in burrows.[6]
Sources
- Joshi M, Tatu A, Hawlena D, Raubenheimer D, Thaker M (2026). Royal Society Open Science 13(1), rsos.251690. Diet of the Indian spiny-tailed lizard in the Thar Desert (journal). Peer reviewed. Field site: Jorbeer-Gadhwala Conservation Reserve, Bikaner.
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (species pages linked on each entry) (database). Global conservation status. Every species page was opened.
The coloured tag before each fact shows where it was verified. A fact checked for India or the world is not assumed to hold for Rajasthan.
