You were probably thinking, "What a cool gecko logo for the Phoenix Rock Gym!" Wrong lizard breath. The logo represents a chuckwalla - a really groovy desert lizard that inhabits many of the crags that we like to climb. For more info read on.

Chuckwalla: Sauromalus obesus, Saurmalus varius Range: Mojave and Sonoran deserts of southeastern California, southern Nevada and Utah, western Arizona and south to Mexico and Baja Habitat: Open flats and rocky areas, often near large rocks and boulders Description: There are two species of chuckwallas that inhabit the Southwestern Deserts: the Common Chuckwalla (Sauromalus obesus) and the Piebald Chuckwalla (Sauromalus varius). This large, plump lizard has loose folds of skin around its neck and shoulders. It has a thick blunt tail and grows 11 to 18 inches long.

This diurnal lizard emerges in the morning and, before seeking food, basks in the sun until its optimum body temperature of 100 degrees F. is reached. Strictly herbivorous, it eats fruit, leaves, buds and flowers. When the Chuckwalla senses danger, it scurris between rocks and lodges itself tightly in crevices by inflating itself.

In the Common Chuckwalla, male coloration includes black head, forelegs and upper trunk, and reddish-yellow toward the rear. Females and young are usually gray with yellow bands. The Piebald Chuckwalla, which is common to Baja, has a gray-to-black face, with same-colored splotches over its entire body, which is tan to yellow.

There are three subspecies of the of the Common Chuckwalla: the Western (S. o. obesus) occupies most of the above range; the Glen Canyon, (S.o. multiforaminatus) found only in the Colorado River gorge between Garfield County, Utah and Page County, Arizona; and the Arizona, (S.o. tumidus) found in southern Arizona into Mexico.