Common Agama

• GeneralThe dominant male sports a deep orange head and does press-ups to display.
• reproducciónDominant males develop a deep orange or red head and a bluish body in the season of greatest breeding and territorial activity.
• Colour depends on status: only the dominant male has the orange head and blue body, and if he loses his territory to a rival he goes back to the dull brown of the subordinates within hours.
• Its press-ups on rocks and walls are not a greeting but a territorial display, and the frequency and rhythm of the movements carry information about the size and condition of the male.
• It is extremely abundant in the cities of West Africa, where it lives on walls, roofs and buildings, and is probably the lizard most often seen by any visitor to the region.
• The dominant male becomes spectacular: an intense orange or red head and a blue body, which is where the name rainbow agama comes from. Subordinates remain brown.
• That colour is not permanent but social: if the dominant male disappears, a subordinate takes on the livery within minutes or hours. The colour depends on rank, not on the individual.
• Males do press-ups. The repeated head-bobbing is their territorial display, and it can be seen constantly on any sunny African wall.
• It lives in groups with one dominant male, several females and subordinate males, and the dominant male actively defends his territory.
• It is diurnal and heat-loving: it comes out at the hottest hours, when other reptiles take shelter.
• Its tolerance of urban environments has made it one of Africa's most visible reptiles, and it has established itself as an introduced species in Florida.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (reptile)

Habitat and environment

Rocks, walls, buildings and bare ground of savannah and inhabited areas of sub-Saharan Africa

Sexual maturity

18 months

Gestation / incubation

60 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

8 eggs

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Agama agama