A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Tupinambis merianae
We were calmly sitting on the green, comfortable grass of Anhatomirim island outside Florianópolis island when we spotted the black tegu walking by. It is very common to see this reptiles in both island and we have seen them several times along the years. According to Bentancur and Pérez Piedrabuena (2009: 101), in Uruguay the tupinambis merianae are commonly called black tegus and according to wikepedia in English they are commonly called argentine black and white tegu and in Portuguese simply brazilian lizard. Males can be upto 1 meter and a half long and weigh 5 kilograms and females a bit smaller; the one in the picture was around 1 meter long. Apparently they are considered the largest kind of tegus. They are omnivorous and according to wikepedia they enjoy being around humans.
It can be seen on the three places: Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. The one on the picture was spotted in Brazil. They live in warm to template places, form rainforest to semideserts, and hibernate during cold seasons.
Spotted on Dec 24, 2012
Submitted on Jan 4, 2013
No Comments