Matthew Flowers is an inquisitive host who enjoys video taping their carefree behavior for hours at a time. Neighbors are divided over the tailgating parties. Some find them quite amusing, but others get so annoyed that they physically harass the guests. The tailgaters are chuckwallas, four-legged revelers from South Mountain, home to one of the world's most dense populations of the large lizards.
Flowers wants to determine if South Mountain chuckwallas are a brand new species of lizard.
South Mountain Park in Phoenix is the largest municipal park in the world, covering 16,500 square acres. It features unique geology and supports diverse plant communities. Within the park's boundaries, the concentration of chuckwallas is five times higher than the normal density found in Southwestern deserts. As many as 60 lizards live in every hectare. Rocky hillsides are perfect habitat for chuckwallas, the second largest of 38 lizard species found in Arizona.