Chuck the walla

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For those of you who may have never seen one, this healthy fellow is a Chuckwalla.  He is native to central Arizona and completely benign.  Although he may appear fierce and has exhibited a great deal of strength when he pulls branches down from my backyard plants, he is generally shy.

The males have the bright orange body with a yellow tail and the females (alas as is usually the case) are not colorful.

Most people know about our rattlesnakes and scorpions but we have a large number of other species which are infinitely more interesting.

Leslie

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