This cute lizard posed as my model for a photo shoot

Lizards are fearful, sneaky, and very fast. This one I found while hiking in Sardinia (stories to come!) was, on the contrary, very friendly. I found it sunbathing on a huge rock in the Gorropu canyon. It let me take a whole book of photos, of which I share a few highlights here. At the end I rewarded it with a piece of peach, that it enjoyed a lot.

My first shoot of my model lizard, zooming in from far before it escaped -as I thought it would do, since all others did.

When I approached it, it turned around, but didn’t look much afraid. I could then see it laterally and appreciate its main colors:

On getting closer and taking a photo from above, you can clearly notice the different colors of the body and the tail. The colors didn’t seem to change during the photo shoot -and I don’t know if this species of lizard actually ever changes colors or not… do you know?

And a photo from the side:

Now a closeup on the body. Check that green spot next to the left arm, that can be appreciated in the other photos too:

It behaved so well, that I though it deserved a reward. I was eating a peach, so I cut off a piece and let it nearby. My model went for it, tasted it repeatedly with its tongue (a pity that I didn’t get nice photos of that!), then ripped off a piece of fruit and moved away from me to have it in peace. It was a bit hard to get a good photo, but you can see here a small piece in its mouth.

I am a nature, science, technology, programming, and DIY enthusiast. Biotechnologist and chemist, in the wet lab and in computers. I write about everything that lies within my broad sphere of interests. Check out my lists for more stories. Become a Medium member to access all stories by me and other writers, and subscribe to get my new stories by email (original affiliate links of the platform).