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Reptiles
There are nearly 8 000 known species of reptile in the world and they are found in diverse habitats. Some are only distantly related to each other and there has been some debate about re-arranging the class Reptilia, according to A Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa (Struik, 2007). One characteristic that sets them apart from birds and mammals is the way their metabolism responds to the temperature of their environment. Their ability to slow down their energy expenditure also allows them to go for a long time without eating.
A collection of reptile footage
A rice-field terrapin gives itself away by rustling in the leaf litter, in a clip filmed in Thailand: Terrapin on the forest floor.
The rocky region of Namaqualand in South Africa is home to many lizards, including the variable skink, Karoo girdled lizard and southern rock agama you see in the clip Leaping lizards in Namaqualand.
Amazingly, many crocodiles live in caves along a dry river bed in Botswana. In this clip, you can see one warming up in the sun and then retreating into the cool cave.
A rock monitor, the second-largest species lizard in Southern Africa, is on the lookout for prey in the clip Large lizard on the prowl, filmed in Namibia's Etosha National Park.
An angulate tortoise plods through the sandveld of South Africa’s Goegap Nature Reserve, in the clip Tortoise shows off its beautiful markings.
Timid terrapins slip into the water when alarmed. The clip Muddy movement turns out to be terrapins was filmed in a marshy part of South Africa’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi reserve.
A golden tree snake, a species that is able to flatten its body enough to glide from one tree to another, takes refuge in a bush in Golden tree snake flees, filmed in a Thai rainforest.
A dive into a channel of the Okavango Delta reveals a Nile crocodile, which is there for the breeding season. The clip is Underwater view of the Okavango Delta.
It’s known as a sex-legged tortoise, but the extra ‘limbs’ are extensions near the top of the back legs. The specimen in Six-legged tortoise appears at last was filmed in Thailand.
A loggerhead turtle is joined by opportunistic fish on a reef in southern Mozambique in Turtle feasts on razor clams.
A juvenile Bengal monitor and a Vogel’s pit viper (a recently named species) sun themselves on a Thai river bank in the clip Pit viper soaks up the sun on a fallen branch.
In South Africa’s Blyde Canyon, the leopard tortoise filmed in Tortoise tenacity toils over the obstacles in its path.
In the clip Python regurgitates bird, an African rock python brings up its meal of a red-eyed bulbul.
Filmed in Brazil’s Pantanal wetland, caimans slip into the river and laze on the bank in the clip Caimans swim and bask.
A Namaqua chameleon is well camouflaged in Chameleon melts into desert landscape, filmed in Namibia.
Bradfield’s Namib day geckos are endemic to Namibia. In the clip Reptiles take refuge from the heat, even these well-adapted animals must retreat from the hot desert sun.
A young reticulated python, the world’s longest snake, coils around a branch in a Thai wetland in the clip Young python ventures out in the daytime.