Female lizard turns the table: Why exaggerated coloration makes her a

[Harlequinmania]

Most nature lovers know that the more colorful a male fish, reptile, or bird, the more likely it is to attract a female and to have healthy offspring. Females, on the other hand, tend to be drably colored, perhaps to avoid predators while carrying, incubating, and caring for young. Curiously, the female striped plateau lizard, which lives in the rocky slopes of Arizona's south-eastern mountains, is an exception to this rule in the animal world. Females are more colourful than males – displaying an orange patch on their throats during reproductive season – and the more colourful the female, the more robust are her offspring. New research has found one reason this may be so.

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