Climate Change Drives Lizard Extinctions

Another potential catastrophic consequence of unchecked climate change: A study in the journal Science finds that lizards can no longer be found in more than one-tenth of the places in Mexico where they lived in 1975. It goes on to predict that by 2080, 40 percent of local lizard populations will have died off and 20 percent of lizard species will be extinct. It’s not the rising heat that’s directly killing lizards; rather, the increased temperatures force the lizards to spend more time seeking shelter to avoid the risk of heat stroke. Consequently, female lizards do not spend enough time eating the food they need to produce eggs.