Meet The Italian Wall Lizard That Has Made Princeton Its Home

PRINCETON, NJ – Ever heard of the Italian Wall Lizard? You may have definitely seen them in Princeton. These invasive Mediterranean reptiles, have crawled their way into Princeton and found a home here.

How did they show up here? No one knows yet. But two high school students from Princeton, Julian Velazquez and Ida Sidik are studying the evolution of this species to try and get some answers.

“We've had a population in Princeton now for at least 10 years. We don't know how this population showed up here,” said Mark Eastburn, a teacher at Princeton High School's Research Program.

"I’ve always been interested in them and then my students Julian and Ida jumped on board with a research project to test how much they've evolved.”

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The Italian lizards can also be found in Long Island, New York; Mount Laurel, New Jersey; Boston and Topeka, Kansas. Velazquez and Sidik have been traveling across the country, collecting the reptiles to study them.

According to their research, the lizards like being around human dwellings.

“In Princeton, I've never seen them out in the woods. In Long Island, we collected them right next to a train station and a daycare center. In Boston, it was right next to Fenway Park and in Mount Laurel, we found them right by the police department. They like to hang out in developed areas, and not undisturbed habitat,” said Eastburn.

The students have been measuring the lizards and comparing how similar or different they are.

“What we found so far, is that the lizards from Topeka are much smaller than all the other populations. The Princeton lizards are bigger than the rest,” said Velazquez.

Also, some lizards are “fiercely territorial.”

“We have a lizard from Mount Laurel and we call him Darth Vader because he killed off all offspring and other male lizards in the tank. But the females are all alive,” said Sidik. “We haven’t seen that with other lizards and we want to study that more.”

The students are in the process of genetically testing the dead lizards to find out if they were the offspring of other males or Lizard Darth Vader.

Velazquez and Sidik also found that the lizards in Princeton, Mount Laurel, and Topeka are better climbers.

“Another study we plan to do is to try to see where they congregate the most. So, we've been tagging the lizards with different combinations of colored beads and are trying to see what their movements are like,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez and Sidik entered the research program as they were greatly interested in reptiles and wildlife biology.

"Before the research program, I've owned several reptiles. And we have both started fostering Leopard Geckos. So, this is kind of an interest that we both had for a while,” said Velazquez.

The students have been researching the Italian lizards for a year now and are focusing on their behavioral, genetic, and physical attributes. Over the summer, they traveled across the country to collect lizards for their research.

They have permission to catch the lizards but cannot release them back into the wild. And so, the lizards have found a new home at the Princeton High School greenhouse.

The students are in touch with professors from Villanova University and Brown University for their research. They are looking forward to contributing to the scientific community through their work.

“Contributing to the scientific community at such a young age is such a huge feat. And it's something that we wouldn't have been able to do without this program,” Velazquez said.

Meanwhile, Sidik is glad to have inspired younger students. "My own brother started collecting little lanternflies on his own. He also helped us catch these lizards as well," said Sidik. "Younger students are watching us and being drawn towards science and that's amazing."

Thank you for reading. Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com

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