Slow Worms[Anguis fragilis]
Britain has three native lizards, two of which occur at Canterbury Environmental Education Centre. The Common Lizard or Viviparous Lizard and the Slow Worm or Legless Lizard love sunny, south-facing banks along the Sunrise Trail - and you may be lucky enough to see them basking there.
Slow Worms hibernate below ground over winter, emerging in spring to bask, feed and mate. They hunt slugs, snails and worms. Their young are born in late summer.
- A new study, the first on reptiles at the centre, is looking at both lizards and the habitats they prefer. Anne Riddel a post-graduate student at the Durrel Institute of Conservation and Ecology is telling the slow worms apart by their head and chin patterns. So far she has discovered 180 different slow worms each with slightly different markings.
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Canterbury Environmental Education Centre