Isolated from all other landmasses, plants and animals evolved in seclusion, creating a biodiversity hotspot unlike anywhere else on Earth. One way biodiversity spreads is by endozoochory, which is the process name for animals eating plant seeds and then pooping them out somewhere else, which may cause them to grow in the new location. Birds are an obvious mode of transport but a new study takes a look at the role lizard poop has played.
Lizards are not a typical choice lizards because they are rarely frugivores eating fruits, nuts, and seeds. Only 10 percent of species known do that. Three of those, the Malagasy Giant Chameleon, Cuvier's Madagascar Swift, and the Western Girdled Lizard in Madagascar, were the recent subject of behavioral observations, fecal analyses, and seed germination tests.
A Malagasy Giant Chameleon (Furcifer oustaleti) strikes a superhero pose on the Madagascar almond tree (Terminalia boivinii). Credit: KyotoU / Ryobu Fukuyama
The scholars found that the lizards consumed fruits from over 20 plant species and expelled viable seeds and the plant species were largely different from those typically consumed by the Common Brown Lemur, a principal seed disperser in Madagascar's forests, indicating the lizards may play a novel role in biodiversity.
Citation: Fukuyama, R., Noyori, W., Tagane, S., Iyoda, S. and Sato, H. (2025), Frugivory by Three Species of Lizards in Madagascar: Implication for Their Ecological Roles as Seed Dispersers. Biotropica, 57: e70052. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.70052
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