A giant plated lizard, Matobosaurus (Gerrhosaurus) validus, basking in the sun.
The Giant Plated Lizard grows to a length of up to 75cm, excluding the considerably lengthy tail.
Giant Plated Lizards live in loosely associated groups on rocky outcrops in savanna environs. It is generally common in suitable habitat throughout its range, which extends over Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, eSwatini (Swaziland), Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.
They are hard to approach and stick close to the rocky outcrops where they live. When threatened, it will jam itself into rock crevices (aided by its flattened body) and inflate with air, making it impossible to extricate it.
Females lay clutches of 2-5 eggs in rock crevices during the mid-summer. These lizards follow an omnivorous diet that includes leaves, flowers and fruit, insects, spiders and scorpions, amphibians and other reptiles up to the size of baby tortoises.