NOTES ON THE ECOLOGY OF A SUBURBAN POPULATION OF RAINBOW LIZARDS IN COASTAL KENYA

Aspects of the ecology of a suburban population of rainbow lizards, Ag ama agama Linnaeus 1758, have been studied in Malindi, a coastal local ity of SE Kenya. Four different family groups were monitored on a wall transect 120 m long. Each group constituted a dominant male (i.e. a b rightly coloured and aggressive individual) and three to four adult fe males, but in one of the studied groups a subordinate male was also se en. Both sexes were active in the morning, and peak activity fell betw een 10.00 and 11.30 hours. Dominant males used elevated perches signif icantly more often than subordinate males and females. The diet consis ted of terrestrial arthropods, and most of the prey eaten were beetles (6-8 mm long). The foraging strategy used by rainbow lizards was to e at small insects at very short time intervals. The lizards used sit-an d-wait foraging, remaining motionless until the prey was <5 cm away. T he rainbow lizards studied did not feed upon plant material.