Mexican Mole Lizard

Mexican Mole Lizards, or Ajolotes, are reptiles that meld the comical, the creepy and maybe even the cute to create... confusion. They sort of remind me of the Turtle Frog, which turns out to be quite reasonable because they both spend their lives digging through the earth. It seems that when it comes to life underground, only the weirdest will do.

Mexican Mole Lizards aren't really lizards at all but they are a relation, and so too are snakes. These Ajolotes have a genus to themselves called Bipes, referring to their two legs. Yes, TWO LEGS! They are right up there just behind the head, while the rest of the body trails behind them. It's a bit like one of those Chinese dragons, except the guy holding up the head hasn't realised that everyone else has left.

On their tiny toes are not-so-tiny claws for digging through the soil. They usually keep just below the surface, but they go deeper down when the heat gets a bit much. This will probably happen quite often since they are indeed found only in Mexico.

They eat various meat products they come across; ants, termites, earthworms and the larvae of insects. At night or after rains they may leave their burrow and explore the exciting world above ground. Here, they can eat yet more insects and even small lizards.

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It may seem like they are composed almost entirely of one, long tail. In fact, the tail is just the last 10% or so of their length. It's also incredibly stubby, in fact it looks a lot like their head! It doesn't attenuate or anything, the whole animal just suddenly stops.

There are 4 species of Mexican Mole Lizard but all the fame seems to be centred on just one, Bipes biporus, who has five toes, is about 20 cm (8 in) long and less than 1 cm wide. It seems like the other species have just 3 or 4 toes. There really isn't much information on these other species, but at least you can see how big one of them is and take a look at how it uses those tiny, little legs. It's almost absurd to think of them being used for anything at all!

Mexican Mole Lizards mate right there in their burrows. About 4 eggs are laid during a very dry time of the year, but they are ready to hatch when the rains come. It's good to see the clever mother give her children an extra leg-up in the world, they'll need it...