Beastfile · Reptiles
Thorny Devil
Moloch horridus
Also known as Mountain Devil, Thorny Dragon, Moloch
A desert lizard that drinks through its skin.
Overview
The thorny devil is a small lizard of the Australian arid zone, rarely longer than 20 centimetres and covered in conical spines that make it awkward to swallow. It eats almost nothing but ants, taking them one at a time at a rate of a few thousand a day. Its most remarkable trick is not the armour but the plumbing: a network of channels between its scales draws water across the body and into the corners of its mouth by capillary action alone. Standing on damp sand is enough to drink. It moves in a slow, rocking shuffle that reads less like a lizard walking than a leaf caught in a breeze.
Origin
Endemic to the arid and semi-arid interior of Australia, across Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia and western Queensland.
Habitat
DesertNotable Traits
- •Skin channels move water to the mouth by capillary action
- •Eats ants almost exclusively, thousands per day
- •A false head on the back of the neck to present to predators
- •Changes color with temperature, paler when hot
- •Rocking gait that disguises its outline as it moves
Conservation
Least Concern. The species is widespread across a vast and largely undeveloped range, though it depends on healthy ant populations and is vulnerable to habitat change at the edges of its distribution.