RED-HEADED ROCK AGAMA
(Agama agama)
Swahili: BALABALA
A big, rock-dwelling lizard with large, triangular head, short, flattened body, strong, muscular legs and long, thin toes. Most easily recognized for the vividly colored displaying male with bright orange head and blue body. The laterally compressed tail is about 60% of the agama’s total length and tapers smoothly. It can be shed but reluctantly. In some specimens, there is a club-like bulge at the end of the tail that is used as a weapon in territorial fights. The body scales are small, hard and overlapping in 59 to 90 rows at mid-body. Eyes are large with round pupils and scaly eyelids. Ear openings are not covered with scales and are conspicuous. Two fang-like teeth are found in the upper jaw.
Displaying males have a vivid red-orange or yellow-orange head (yellow in the far north of Kenya) with an orange, pink or even blue chin. The body is blue with a pale vertebral stripe that tapers at the base of the tail. The tail is ringed light and dark blue. Non-displaying males look dull brown with faint darker crossbars and green/yellow speckles. Some males have pale or white heads, shoulders and stripes; these may be non-dominant males. All males have a small crest on the nape.
Females are smaller than males, and brown, with green head speckling, vague dark crossbars and a vertebral strip of irregular rectangular markings. There are often striking red or orange patches where the upper limbs touch the flank.
Ecology and Behavior |
Wild Tales |
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Distribution: Agamas are found throughout sub-Sahara Africa. The red-headed rock agama ranges from East Africa north to Egypt and west to Senegal. In East Africa it is widely distributed in Kenya except for the southwest, central Uganda, and Tanzania except for the northwest and the south.
Habitat: Coastal thicket and woodland, moist and dry savannah, and semi-desert, from sea level to over 7,000 feet, though most common below 5,000 feet. Absent from areas without rock outcrops or big trees.
Food and Feeding Methods: Feed on a wide range of insects. They are very fond of ants and may spend hours beside ant trails, licking up passing insects. They also eat plant material, including grass, flowers and fruit.
Behavior: Diurnal, social groups or colonies with territorial males, active. The red-headed rock agama is a diurnal, rock-dwelling lizard that also lives on big trees, and uses buildings and walls. It lives in structured colonies with a dominant male (and sometimes a subordinate male) that basks in a prominent spot. When basking, males bob their heads up and down. Dense colonies may form when suitable sites and refuges are abundant.
If an intruding male enters a dominant male’s territory, he is attacked. The dominant male raises and lowers his head as he approaches. They side step and move in a circle, then rush in and seize each other, biting savagely and using their tails as clubs. Eventually the loser flees.
If threatened, agamas move rapidly for cover in rocks or tree cracks. They can run fast and jump considerable distances, over 1 ½ feet. Adults may be taken by small birds of prey and snakes.
Reproduction: Females usually lay eggs at the start of the rainy season or occasionally to coincide with unexpected storms. Up to 9 soft-shelled eggs are laid in a clutch and are buried in a hole or cavity excavated by the female. Incubation is 50 to 60 days. Hatchlings are about 3 to 4 inches long. Mongooses have been seen digging up egg clutches.
Status: A widespread, successful species.
Remarks: Agamas are believed to have originated in Asia and Australia, from where they dispersed into Africa. They are closely related to chameleons.
The agama family Agamidae is large, comprising 320 species, and is widely distributed over the Old World. Eight species are found in East Africa, 3 of them endemic.
In East Africa, a number of subspecies of Agama agama are identifiable by their differently colored throats, ranging from blue to blue-edged red to brick red to crimson edged with gray lines.
The male agama’s habit of bobbing his head up and down while basking in the sun led to dislike of the species by Moslems who saw this behavior as a mockery of their movement during prayer.
Length: Avg. 7 ¾ - 11 ¾ in. (up to 13 ½ in.)
Rock Agama and Swimming Pool
When I swim, I usually have an audience: the rock agamas that have taken up residence around the pool. The dominant male is a big, brightly colored blue and orange agama with a foot missing, making him very easy to identify. He's quite tame and curious about what I'm doing in the water and as he patrols the pool wall, watches me with his head cocked, occasionally doing push-ups to show he's in charge. Agamas are very territorial and this male seems to hold a vast area from the pool to the house and out over the rock ledge. Within his territory are a large number of more drab-colored females who run and hide when I swim by.
Rock Agama and Termites
The agamas still keep me company when I swim but now it is mostly the females. I don't know what happened to the big male missing a hind foot but he has disappeared, either eaten by some predator or chased away by young, stronger males. After a heavy rainstorm in early November, the air was filled with thousands of flying termites released from their mounds to begin new colonies. I really wanted to go for a swim that morning but the water was littered with dead and dying termites that had met their end in our pool. As I swam, I scooped them out of the water and flung them on to the cement retaining wall where a huge female agama watched me. Soon she began following me up and down the length of the pool as I swam laps, stopping to grab and gulp down the highly nutritious termites. We had formed a partnership and now every time I swim, she is there on the wall sunbathing and watching me, waiting for a tidbit from the pool. She is highly intolerant of the other female agamas, chasing the smaller ones away from any prey. Only when a male appears does she give way.