Candles and Alligators

My daughter Alita and I were the first to arrive Saturday morning to begin setting out chairs and decorations for the annual Candles in the Canyon dinner at the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve. Candles is the Reserve’s primary public fund-raising opportunity for projects that benefit wildlife research, needed equipment purchases, youth education programs and student research projects. It is a popular‘alfresco event, well attended by a who’s who of area V.I.P.’s.

After running out of chores Alita climbed a vintage fig tree near the transformed corral where participants would dine later in the evening. Calling me away from decorating tables, Alita directed me to get my camera ready and cautiously walk toward an old fence post under the tree. There, enjoying the warming weather from a hidden vantage point was a beautiful foot long alligator lizard.

Alligator lizards are common in the foothills right now, emerging from their winter torpor to warm their blood in the spring sunshine, I’ve probably seen 4 of them in the past week.
Our local representative of the group Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata is the California Alligator Lizard, which can be found from sea level to 5,000 feet, and from the Mexican border to our border with Oregon and beyond. Up to 12” in total length E. multicarinata multicarinata ranges in color from brown to gray with yellow tones and yellow eyes. A keel-scaled lizard (each scale with a central ridge), it has a fold of skin along each side that allows it’s body to expand or retract to accommodate a big meal or egg production.

One of the most unique features of alligator lizards (and a number of other lizards) is their detachable tails. A terrific defense ploy, the lizards have the ability to ‘release’ half of their tail when threatened. Once detached the tail writhes enticingly for up to 5 minutes, inviting would be predators to ignore the lizard end and attack the tail end. The tail eventually grows back though never to it’s original full glory.


The opportunity to observe this alligator lizard, as well as numerous bird, insect, flower and mammal species, is precisely the reason that this special Reserve is celebrated and supported by so many in our community.