Western Fence Lizard

Also known as Blue-belly, Bluebelly Lizard, Western Fence-lizard

Western fence lizards spend warm daylight hours sunning themselves on rocks, wooden fences, and logs while scanning their surroundings for small insects. Their brilliant blue belly patches play a key role in territorial displays, where males perform rapid push-ups to ward off rivals. A protein in their blood kills the Lyme disease bacterium inside feeding western blacklegged ticks, dramatically lowering infection rates in their local habitats.