Lizards are found in many habitats, from deserts to mountainsides. They are cold blooded animals. This means that they cannot control their body temperature and it rises and falls with the temperature of the surroundings. In many habitats the surroundings are cold at night and the lizards living there are inactive at this time. In the morning the lizards come out of hiding and bask in the sunshine to warm up, then scamper away to feed.

Lizards which live in the desert hide away when it is too hot in the middle of the day. They come out in the evening when their surroundings cool down.

There are many different kinds of lizards. Some are herbivores. For example the chuckwallas that live in North American deserts eat parts of cacti including the flowers. A great number of lizards are carnivores. Most of them eat insects. For example the common lizard that lives in many parts of Britain eats flies, moths and beetles. It also eats spiders. The largest lizard is called the Komodo Dragon. It can kill and eat a goat!