Habitat Use of Japanese Grass Lizards (Takydromus tachydromoides) in Kagamino Park (鏡野公園) at Kochi University of Technology Kami Campus, Kochi Prefecture

Kagamino Park (鏡野公園) at Kochi University of Technology Kami Campus, Kochi Prefecture, Japan is a manicured city park with planted trees and a small fish pond. The majority of the area is open with manicured grass. Some sections are wooded with cut grass that can get long in the spring before it is cut. For more photos and description details I wrote a Kagamino Park Blog Post.

Kagamino Park (鏡野公園) at Kochi University of Technology Kami Campus

Kagamino Park (鏡野公園) at Kochi University of Technology Kami Campus

The park is home to a variety of reptiles and amphibians but most abundant of them is the Japanese Grass Lizard (Takydromus tachydromoides). Japanese Grass Lizards (Takydromus tachydromoides) also called kanahebi' (カナヘビ) are brown lizards with two light stripes on either side, thin body and pointed head. They move quickly and got the name kanahebi' (Hebi means snake in Japanese) because they are snake like. They are endemic to Japan but they are listed as least concern because they are abundant throughout their range and occurs in a wide variety of habitats. 

Japanese Grass Lizard (Takydromus tachydromoides)

Japanese Grass Lizard (Takydromus tachydromoides)

I write this as a observational note of how these lizards have adapted to life in an urban park and have thrived in it. I first spotted these lizards around large boulders and at the base of larger trees. They usually stay in sunny spots. 

Distribution of Japanese Grass Lizards in Kagamino Park with numbers observed

When the grass is long the lizards forage anywhere that the vegetation is over one 20cm tall. In the spring the grass was long and growing wild but in mid-May they cut the grass and left the cutting in piles. After it was cut, the lizards lived in the grass piles.

Kagamino Park (鏡野公園) at Kochi University of Technology Kami Campus

Kagamino Park (鏡野公園) at Kochi University of Technology Kami Campus

Japanese Grass Lizards also are frequently found in small bushy shrubs about 1 m high or less. They can be basking at the base of the shrubs or at the top of them.