Digestive Efficiency in the Herbivorous Lizard Ctenosaura pectinata

The digestive efficiency of the herbivorous lizard, Ctenosaura pectinata, feeding on a low-fiber plant food, was determined to test the animal's ability to digest non-fibrous plant material. Their digestibility coefficient was 86.3%, which is as high as that of several carnivorous lizards fed insects. The animals were free to regulate their body temperature during the study and usually maintained a daytime body temperature of 37 C. Under these conditions food passage rates were approximately four days and energy was assimilated at the rate of 10.7 cal g-1 day-1. There was no correlation between changes of body weight and efficiency of digestion.