https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/lizard/ Recent content in Lizard on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Tue, 15 Oct 2013 13:01:28 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/lizard-king-rises/ Tue, 15 Oct 2013 13:01:28 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/lizard-king-rises/ <p>The trouble with being a lizard is that your mammal neighbors are always trying to eat your dinner, or make you into their dinner, wielding a competitive advantage scientists have long attributed to their warm-blooded metabolism. For this reason, large lizards like the Komodo dragon are extremely rare, and only occur in isolated island environments that lack other predators. Now, a giant fossil species of herbivorous lizard that appears to have happily coexisted with various large mammal species has been identified in Eocene-aged rocks from Myanmar. Scientists christened it <em>Barbaturex morrisoni</em> (which translates to &ldquo;bearded king Morrison&rdquo;) in honor of the other Lizard King, singer Jim Morrison of The Doors.</p>