Cordylus cordylus
Silhouette: Beth Reinke · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Cordylus cordylus, the Cape girdled lizard, is a medium-sized lizard indigenous to the southern Cape region of South Africa, where it inhabits crags, rocky outcrops and mountain summits. They evade predators by wedging themselves firmly in rock cracks.
The Cape girdled lizard has a golden-brown body with spiny, keeled body scales, especially on its tail. It is indigenous to the Western and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa, from Saldanha and Cape Town eastwards as far as Lesotho.
They feed on insects, which are caught by rushing and pouncing. They live in large colonies (with social hierarchies) on crags, rocky outcrops and mountain summits. They can often be seen sunbathing on top of prominent rocks. The lizards hide in rocky cracks, but come out in the morning and evening to forage. If threatened, they retreat to their holes and cracks in the rocks, wedge themselves in and lock their bodies there by inflating their lungs. Jammed into the cracks like this, with their thorny tail wrapped protectively over their faces, they are incredibly difficult to prise out.
In the autumn, the females give birth to one... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Tierpark Hagenbeck | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 5 | Leningrad Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | Adventure Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Rákosův pavilon | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 8 | Velemlokárium | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Girdled Lizard sighting in Garden Route National Park on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 19th most-seen of the 35 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October to May
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Girdled Lizard in Garden Route National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June to September, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cape Girdled Lizard sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Cape Girdled Lizard sightings, Garden Route National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 60%), West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 20%) and Addo Elephant National Park (South Africa, about 10%).
Same family: Cordylidae
The closest relatives of the Cape Girdled Lizard that you can see in Garden Route National Park (family Cordylidae, Girdle-tail Lizards) are Blue-spotted Girdled Lizard (about 20%) and Cape Snake Lizard (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cape Girdled Lizard is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Garden Route National Park (19 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
