This Fence Lizard was found laying casually across a line of harvest ants at a usual day’s work. Assuming it was positioning for a snack, I set-up hoping for a photo of it feeding. Then to my surprise as one of the ants crawled up its leg the lizard further relaxed and watched as the ant set about tugging a tick out of a skin fold just above its left fore-leg. The ant soon plucked the tick and was gone and the lizard scuttled away. While birds are known to invite ants to help rid their feathers of parasites using their formic acid spray, called “anting”, I’ve not been able to find another account of a lizard indulging in this wonderful trans-special give-and-take.
