📸 PhotoPhoto: Marcel Burkhard/ Cele4 , www.tierlexikon.ch · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Green Basilisk
Basiliscus plumifrons (Green Basilisk · グリーンバシリスク)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 When threatened, it runs several yards across the surface of the water before plunging in (Smithsonian National Zoo description).
- 💡 Its maximum length of 90 cm is slightly longer than a baseball bat (about 80–85 cm) (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Green Basilisk is a lizard living in the tropical rainforests of Central America, famous for running across the surface of water to escape danger.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Full-grown males have a double-peaked crest on top of the head, and large individuals grow up to about 90 cm in length.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds on insects, spiders, small lizards, small mammals, crayfish, and snails. It is oviparous, laying 15–17 eggs per clutch that hatch in 8–10 weeks, and is one of the few iguanian lizards capable of parthenogenesis, in which a female can produce young without a male.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2013) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/203046/2759302
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 5WD9W
- • iucnredlist.org — 2759302
- • wikidata.org — Q753071
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Plumedbasiliskcele4 edit.jpg
- • nationalzoo.si.edu — green-crested-basilisk
- • reptile-database.reptarium.cz — species
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Laemanctus serratus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.