Rain-Drinking Behaviors of the Australian Thorny Devil (Sauria: Agamidae)

During natural and simulated rainfall, Moloch horridus used the cutaneous surface of its integument as a water-harvesting system to capture rain water for drinking. Circumstantial behavioral evidence, in combination with experimental studies (Withers, 1993), suggests that the capillary, interscalar, water-transport system of Moloch is also used to absorb water for drinking from rain-moistened substrates. Lizards rub their venters against wet substrates and dig sand onto their backs. This is a previously unreported behavior for water acquisition by lizards inhabiting arid regions. No stereotypic behavioral stance for rain harvesting, as seen in Phrynocephalus helioscopus and Phrynosoma cornutum, was observed in Moloch horridus