The El Hierro giant lizard (''Gallotia simonyi machadoi'') is a subspecies of lacertid (wall lizard) that can be found on the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

El Hierro El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...

, one of the Canary Islands. It is considered to be a subspecies of ''

Gallotia simonyi ''Gallotia simonyi'', also known as Simony's lizard, is a species of lacertid (wall lizard) that was found on many of the Canary Islands. The species was once present throughout much of the islands, but one of the two subspecies is extinct, whil ...

'', Simony's lizard. The subspecies was once present throughout much of the island and on the small offshore , but is now confined to a few small areas of cliff with sparse vegetation. It is currently restricted to the southern end of the Risco de Tibataje in , located between Guinea and the so-called Paso del Pino (an area of about four

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s). The species was also successfully reintroduced to the Roque Chico de Salmor in 1999, and subsequent reintroductions have taken place at Julan and at la Dehesa.(Miras & Pérez-Mellado 2005b) About long, the Hierro giant lizard is a thickset reptile with a broad head. Adults are dark grey to brown in colour, with two rows of pale orange patches running along its sides. Its belly is mostly brown, but has an orange to red colouration towards the middle. Older El Hierro giant lizards are mainly

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

with some grey. Males are larger than females. It is the animal symbol of the island of El Hierro. The Hierro giant lizard is

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

. It eats plants - notably '' verode'' and '' Lavandula abrotanoides'' - as well as

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s (ARKive 2006). Mating begins in May and 5 to 13

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

are laid from June until the end of August. Their eggs hatch after 61 days.

Status and conservation

In 1974, the German amateur

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians ( gymnophiona)) and rep ...

Werner Bings discovered a surviving population of this species on El Hierros mainland (Böhme & Bings 1975). This was subsequently determined to be a distinct subspecies, 100 years after the species was first described (López-Jurado 1989). The population of this species is about 300 to 400 animals in the wild (including re-introduced populations), and it is classified as critically endangered by the 2006

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

. This giant lizard's major threat is predation by feral

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s, and possibly also by

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

s and rats. A recovery plan for the Hierro giant lizard has been developed and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

and the Canary Islands Autonomous Government funded a program for the captive breeding and re-introduction of the Hierro giant lizard to its original natural habitat, including the Roque Chico de Salmor. Control of feral cats has been stopped in 2002, but according to the IUCN continued control of feral cats should be resumed to allow population recovery. The Hierro giant lizard is protected by national and international legislation. It is listed on Annex IV of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

Habitats Directive The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The E ...

(EC 2003) and on Appendix I of

CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

References

External links

ARKive ARKive was a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery", which it did by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the worl ...

(2006)
Hierro giant lizard (''Gallotia simonyi'')
Downloaded on 18 May 2006. * Barahona, F.; Evans, S. E.; Mateo, J.A.; García-Márquez, M. & López-Jurado, L.F. (2000): Endemism, gigantism and extinction in island lizards: the genus ''Gallotia'' on the Canary Islands. '' J. Zool.'' 250(3): 373–388. (HTML abstract) * Bischoff, Wolfgang (2000): DGHT-AG Lacertiden aktuell
Rieseneidechsen auf La Gomera
Version of 2000-MAY-23. Retrieved 2007-FEB-25. * Böhme, W. & Bings, Werner (1975): Zur Frage des Überlebens von ''Lacerta s. simonyi'' Steindachner. ''Salamandra'' 11(1): 39–46. rticle in German* Diaz, Carlos Naeslund & Bischoff, Wolfgang (1994): Studien am Roque Chico de Salmor bei El Hierro (Kanaren): 1. Mögliche Ursachen für das Aussterben von ''Gallotia simonyi'', 2. Die Artzugehörigkeit seiner Geckos (''Tarentola''). ''Salamandra'' 30(4): 246–253. [Article in German
HTML abstract
* European Commission (EC) (2003):
Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora
'. Annex IV - Animal and plant species of community interest in need of strict protection. Treaty of Accession 2003
PDF fulltext
* European Environment Agency (2006a)
European Nature Information System (EUNIS)Species Factsheet: ''Gallotia simonyi''
Downloaded on 24 Feb 2007. * European Environment Agency (2006b)
European Nature Information System (EUNIS)Species Factsheet: ''Gallotia simonyi machadoi''
Downloaded on 24 Feb 2007. * López-Jurado, L.F. (1989): A new Canarian lizard subspecies from Hierro island (Canarian Archipelago). ''Bonner Zoologische Beiträge'' 40: 265–272. * Maas, Peter H.J. (2006)
The Extinction Website
Extinctions in Europe. Downloaded on 18 May 2006. * Maca-Meyer, N.; Carranza, S.; Rando, J.C.; Arnold, E.N. & Cabrera, V.M. (2003): Status and relationships of the extinct giant Canary Island lizard ''Gallotia goliath'' (Reptilia: Lacertidae), assessed using ancient mtDNA from its mummified remains. '' Biol. J. Linn. Soc.'' 80(4): 659–670. (HTML abstract)

External links

* lacerta.de
''Gallotia simonyi machadoi''
image gallery. Retrieved 2007-FEB-25. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5874935 Gallotia Reptiles of the Canary Islands Reptiles described in 1989 El Hierro