It all started in October 2023, when a team led by Natalie Claunch, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida, stumbled upon a rather rotund northern curly-tailed lizard. At first glance, this lizard seemed, well, ready to pop. The research team thought it was about to lay eggs, a common enough event in the world of lizardry. However, as they soon discovered, something much more “digestive” was at play.
“When we caught it, we just assumed the animal was ready to lay eggs,” said Natalie Claunch, a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Florida School of Natural Resources and Environment. “But when we went to feel for eggs, it just felt like it was full of Silly Putty.”
What felt like a squishy toy was, in fact, something far more surprising and, well, slightly grosser. Claunch and her team whisked the bloated reptile off to Edward Stanley, the Florida Museum’s Digital Discovery and Dissemination Lab director, who promptly CT-scanned the creature. And there it was, the shocking truth: a gigantic poop, wedged firmly in the lizard’s stomach like.
The poop was so large that the surrounding organs were starting to atrophy, and the poop made up almost 80% of its body weight.
When pizza bites back
“I was blown away by how little room there was left for all the other organs – if you look at the 3D model, it has only a tiny space left over in its ribcage for the heart, lungs and liver,” Stanley said. “It must have been a very uncomfortable situation for the poor lizard.”
Now, this was a record-smashing poop. Specifically, it beat the previous record previously held by a Burmese python.
But wait! What was this lizard’s poop made of, you ask? Sand, pizza grease, and crushed dreams.
The lizard had found itself in a precarious situation thanks to humans and their delicious, cheesy leftovers. Somewhere in a Florida parking lot, the curly-tailed lizard had encountered pizza grease, likely sprinkled with a bit of sand. The lizard, lured by the heavenly smell of oil and cheese, thought it had hit the jackpot. Instead, it hit rock bottom—or more precisely, rock stomach.
In the wild, curly-tailed lizards are savvy hunters of insects and they typically only eat small insects. They’re not supposed to binge on pizza grease. Nature intended them to digest small bugs, not greasy human leftovers. Unfortunately, parking lots and discarded pizza crusts have become accidental buffet tables for these reptiles. In this case, the lizard gobbled up grease mixed with sand—perfect for a lizard-sized digestive disaster.
Curly-tailed lizards can usually pass large amounts of waste, but this particular snack must have been too much. The poor lizard simply couldn’t expel the indigestible bolus, and it began to suffer the consequences. As the mass grew, her organs started to wither. It was a prime example of how human interference, even something as innocuous as a greasy pizza slice, can lead to unusual and tragic wildlife events.
Lizards in Florida
Curly-tailed lizards, originally brought to Florida to tackle sugarcane pests, now roam free in the state’s warm climate. These hardy little creatures have been spotted hitching rides in cars, delivery trucks, and even boats, traveling far and wide across the Sunshine State. Claunch explains, “New populations are still being reported and discovered – these lizards can hitchhike in cars, plant delivery trucks or boats, so they end up in a lot of disconnected places,” Claunch said.
While these lizards aren’t considered the most high-priority invasive species, they’ve quietly spread, thriving in an environment that humans have transformed. Parking lots, fast food joints, and highways have created a bizarre new habitat where nature collides with our leftovers, sometimes with absurd consequences.
This lizard’s record-breaking poop might seem like a freak occurrence, but it’s a vivid reminder that even small, seemingly harmless actions can ripple through ecosystems in unexpected ways. In a world where humans are constantly altering the natural landscape, wildlife sometimes struggles to adapt. What starts as a greasy pizza stain in a parking lot can end up inside a lizard, creating a life-threatening situation no one could have predicted.
We often talk about the impacts of deforestation, pollution, and climate change on wildlife. But here’s a reminder that even a casual act—like tossing a scrap of food—can set off a chain of events that drastically affects animals.
The researchers published their findings as a note in the Herpetological Review.
