Chuckwalla

Case knew the cove because it was the landing point for Cañon de las Palmas, a site of his long-term chuckwalla work. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

Summer temperatures routinely soar above 120 degrees, and unless you are a chuckwalla lizard, your discomfort at any time of year will likely range from mildly overheated to thoroughly scorched. ❋ Christina Binkley (2011)

The many reptiles include the common chuckwalla, Texas horned lizard, desert spiny lizard, and various species of rattlesnakes. ❋ Unknown (2009)

He has been afloat for three days at a stretch, unable to land safely on any of those rocky islands, trapped on the boat, using a bucket for his latrine, running short of gas, putting life jackets on the carboys of drinking water in anticipation of shipwreck, and then finally limping back to Bahia without having captured a single chuckwalla—which for him represents the penultimate indignity. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

Of course the ultimate indignity, worse even than going home without chuckwalla data, is death. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

The chuckwalla mortality is alarming, but another alarm rings somewhat more stridently. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

He could easily have cited the Aldabran tortoise, the chuckwalla of Angel de la Guarda, the hippo of Madagascar, the beetles of Madeira, the elephantids of Timor, the iguanas of the Galápagos, the finches of Darwin and Lack, the earwig of Saint Helena, and the dodo. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

He makes a few observations about the ecology of the giant chuckwalla. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

His past interactions with each of them have been brief—catch a chuckwalla, weigh it, measure it, determine its sex, paint a number on its back, release it. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

They tried chuckwallas too, but chuckwalla meat turned out to be more disagreeable than starvation. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

He has surveyed the chuckwalla population here every summer for twelve years. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

The present travail, this murderous drought, is bad for the chuckwalla population but morbidly fascinating for the herpetologist. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

If this homely chuckwalla disappears from this woebegone place, Ted Case will be the first to know. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

I gave [my wife] [the good] [ol'] Chuckwalla Basket Toss last night. ❋ Meatball78 (2014)