They puff up their bodies and go through other physical displays, including what appears to be a series of rapid pushups. Flowers logs his observations into a computer database. He uses the computer to compare behavior, such as the number of pushups done among individual chuckwallas over a certain time period. Interactions with his study subjects can be more painful. Flowers might spend anywhere from five to 90 minutes trying to collect a single lizard.
Chuckwallas retreat from danger by wedging into rock crevices and inflating their bodies.
A well-entrenched lizard can prevail, forcing the frustrated scientist to retreat, bloody fingers his only reward. Over a month's time last summer, Flowers caught 18 male and 12 female chuckwallas. He took them home for tailgate party observations. The researcher built two large piles of cinder blocks in his backyard. A board is placed between the piles to separate these simulated rock dens.