Mondo Knows Facts
The common basilisk lizard can sprint across water surfaces
Fringed toes and rapid strides allow the lizard to run on water.
Nicknamed the Jesus Christ lizard, the basilisk escapes predators by sprinting on its hind legs across rivers and ponds. Unfolding skin fringes on its long toes slap the water surface rapidly to trap air pockets, producing enough upward force to keep its body above water.
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Tags: basilisk, reptiles, water
The common basilisk lizard can sprint across water surfaces: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Fringed toes and rapid strides allow the lizard to run on water. The figure is taken from Encyclopædia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a animals fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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