The Gourdeox is a species of lizard found in Iokeihiko. It is the largest extant species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of 10 ft in rare cases and weighing up to approximately 140 lbs.
As a result of their size, these lizards dominate the ecosystems in which they live. Gourdeoxs hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Gourdeoxs' group behavior in hunting is exceptional in the reptile world.
Description
Behavior and Ecology
Reproduction
Conservation
Description
In the wild, adult Gourdeoxs usually weigh around 140 lbs. although captive specimens often weigh more. The largest verified wild specimen was 12 ft long and weighed 327 lbs., including its undigested food.
The Gourdeox has a tail as long as its body, as well as about 60 frequently replaced, serrated teeth. Its saliva is frequently blood-tinged because its teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue that is naturally lacerated during feeding. It also has a long, yellow, deeply forked tongue. Gourdeox skin is reinforced by armored scales, which contain tiny bones called osteoderms that function as a sort of natural chainmail. The only areas lacking osteoderms on the head of the adult Gourdeox were around the eyes, nostrils, mouth margins and pineal eye, a light-sensing organ on the top of the head. Where lizards typically have one or two varying patterns or shapes of osteoderms, Gourdeox's have four: rosette, platy, dendritic, and vermiform. This rugged hide makes Gourdeox skin a poor source of leather, although the animals were still poached for many years for their gem-colored skin.
Behavior and Ecology
The Gourdeox prefers hot and dry places, and typically lives in dry, open grassland, savanna, and tropical forest at low elevations. As an ectotherm, it is most active in the day, although it exhibits some nocturnal activity. Gourdeoxs are solitary, coming together only to breed and eat. They are capable of running rapidly in brief sprints, diving up to 25 ft, and climbing trees proficiently when young through use of their strong claws. To catch out-of-reach prey, the Gourdeox may stand on its hind legs and use its tail as a support. As it matures, its claws are used primarily as weapons, as its great size makes climbing impractical.
They are carnivores, although they have been considered as eating mostly carrion, they will frequently ambush live prey with a stealthy approach. When suitable prey arrives near a Gourdeox's ambush site, it will suddenly charge at the animal at high speeds and go for the underside or the throat.
Gourdeoxs do not deliberately allow the prey to escape with fatal injuries but try to kill prey outright using a combination of lacerating damage and blood loss. They have been recorded as killing wild pigs within seconds, and observations of Gourdeoxs tracking prey for long distances are likely misinterpreted cases of prey escaping an attack before succumbing to infection. Gourdeoxs have been observed knocking down large pigs and deer with their strong tails. They are able to locate carcasses using their keen sense of smell, which can locate a dead or dying animal from a range of up to 7 mi.
For smaller prey up to the size of a goat, their loosely articulated jaws, flexible skulls, and expandable stomachs allow them to swallow prey whole. The undigested vegetable contents of a prey animal's stomach and intestines are typically avoided. Copious amounts of red saliva the Gourdeoxs produce help to lubricate the food, but swallowing is still a long process. A Gourdeox may attempt to speed up the process by ramming the carcass against a tree to force it down its throat, sometimes ramming so forcefully, the tree is knocked down. A small tube under the tongue that connects to the lungs allows it to breathe while swallowing.
After eating up to 80% of its body weight in one meal, it drags itself to a sunny location to speed digestion, as the food could rot and poison the Gourdeox if left undigested in its stomach for too long. Because of their slow metabolism, large Gourdeoxs can survive on as few as 12 meals a year. After digestion, the Gourdeox regurgitates a mass of horns, hair, and teeth known as the gastric pellet, which is covered in malodorous mucus. After regurgitating the gastric pellet, it rubs its face in the dirt or on bushes to get rid of the mucus, suggesting it does not relish the scent of its own excretions.
The largest animals eat first, while the smaller ones follow a hierarchy. The largest male asserts his dominance and the smaller males show their submission by use of body language and rumbling hisses. Gourdeoxs of equal size may resort to "wrestling". Losers usually retreat, though they have been known to be killed and eaten by victors.
The Gourdeox's diet is wide-ranging, and includes invertebrates, other reptiles, birds, bird eggs, small mammals, monkeys, wild boar, goats, deer, horses, and water buffalo. Young Gourdeoxs will eat insects, eggs, geckos, and small mammals, while adults prefer to hunt large mammals. Occasionally, they attack and bite people. Sometimes they consume Ka'a'Crede corpses, digging up bodies from shallow graves. This habit of raiding graves caused the villagers of Iokeihiko to move their graves from sandy to clay ground, and pile rocks on top of them, to deter the lizards.
Reproduction
Mating occurs between May and August, with the eggs laid in September. During this period, males fight over females and territory by grappling with one another upon their hind legs, with the loser eventually being pinned to the ground. The winner of the fight will then flick his long tongue at the female to gain information about her receptivity. Other courtship displays include males rubbing their chins on the female, hard scratches to the back, and licking. Copulation occurs when the male inserts one of his hemipodes into the female's cloaca. Gourdeoxs may be monogamous and form "pair bonds", a rare behavior for lizards.
Young Gourdeoxs spend much of their first few years in trees, where they are relatively safe from predators, including cannibalistic adults, as juvenile Gourdeoxs make up 10% of their diets. The habit of cannibalism may be advantageous in sustaining the large size of adults, as medium-sized prey on the islands is rare. When the young approach a kill, they roll around in fecal matter and rest in the intestines of eviscerated animals to deter these hungry adults. Gourdeoxs take approximately 8 to 9 years to mature and may live for up to 30 years.
Gourdeoxs have the ZW chromosomal sex-determination system, as opposed to the mammalian XY system, and are capable of parthenogenesis. It has been hypothesized that this reproductive adaptation allows a single female to enter an isolated ecological niche (such as an island) and by parthenogenesis produce male offspring, thereby establishing a sexually reproducing population (via reproduction with her offspring that can result in both male and female young). Despite the advantages of such an adaptation, zoos are cautioned that parthenogenesis may be detrimental to genetic diversity.
Conservation
The Gourdeox is classified as a vulnerable species. The species' sensitivity to natural and man-made threats has long been recognized by conservationists, and zoological societies. Their declining population was a factor in the closing of Iokeihiko as a natural reserve.
Gourdeoxs generally avoid encounters with humans. Juveniles are very shy and will flee quickly into a hideout if a human comes closer than about 300 ft. Older animals will also retreat from humans from a shorter distance away. If cornered, they may react aggressively by gaping their mouth, hissing, and swinging their tail. If they are disturbed further, they may attack and bite. Although there are anecdotes of unprovoked Gourdeoxs attacking or preying on humans, most of these reports are either not reputable or have subsequently been interpreted as defensive bites. Only a very few cases are truly the result of unprovoked attacks by atypical individuals which lost their fear of humans.
Volcanic activity, earthquakes, loss of habitat, fire, tourism, loss of prey, and illegal poaching of the Gourdeoxs themselves have all contributed to the vulnerable status of the Gourdeox. Commercial trade of Gourdeox skins or specimens is illegal. Despite this, there are still occasional reports of illegal attempts to trade in live Gourdeoxs(Gore-DOUGH) - These large reptiles are either at the verge of extinction or else make their home elsewhere. Once prevalent on shores and near-shore forests, the Gourdeox are now rarely seen. Hunting them for their gem-colored skins (usually in shades of garnet or ruby) may be a partial reason, but their affinity for water and their long powerful tails and webbed toes hint that these reptiles are excellent swimmers and probably live and breed elsewhere. Adults are 1.5-2 feet tall. They are very intelligent. Eats small mammals, mice, can hunt for itself. They are difficult to capture and tame (aggressive).
Comments