White Lizard

**White lizards** are fairly large quadrupedal lizards. They have a white torso and limbs, a black head, and a black tongue, which can be launched out to reach roughly three times a white lizard's body length. A white lizard's external colors can change to suit the background at any given time. If they are killed, their entire bodies will revert to a pale white color.

They are found in Industrial Complex, Chimney Canopy, The Exterior, Sky Islands, Garbage Wastes, and Shoreline, but may also spawn in Drainage System, Farm Arrays and Subterranean.

## Abilities/Behavior

### Camouflage

When not chasing food, white lizards will mimic the color of the background they are standing on, often rendering themselves virtually invisible save for their eyes and mouth. They will stay motionless, waiting for prey to pass them by. Once they have spotted potential prey, a lizard will emit a cloud of saliva in anticipation for their meal, often giving their location away. When their prey has wandered close enough, they will lash out in an attempt to capture it, either with their long tongue or strong jaws. This camouflage is not perfect however; any damage to their body will result in their coloration going haywire and they will lose the ability to camouflage themselves effectively.

### Wall Crawling

Like their blue cousins, white lizards possess the ability to crawl on background walls. This makes them a difficult enemy to evade, especially due to their high speed. Even more troublesome is their habit of camouflaging themselves in the background walls of narrow passageways, completely cutting off the access of any poor slugcat that needs to pass by.

### Tongue

When ambushing or pursuing prey such as squidcadas, white lizards will employ their extremely long tongue to try and snag them. Once their tongue has hit something, they will attempt to reel it in close so that they can bite and grab it. If struck by something, it will break their focus and cause them to release what they are holding. In addition, there is a window in which they are forced to let go of their prey, when they retract their tongue to avoid biting it. This often gives lucky creatures an opportunity to escape.

## Strategy

### Combat

The key to fighting all lizards is to stay level with them. This is especially true with white lizards, as they are very difficult to fight in a vertical situation. As with most lizards, their head is heavily armored, so it is recommended to try and spear their fleshy torso. This can be done by flipping them with a rock and then tossing a spear, backflipping over them, or ambushing them from a favorable angle. Unlike other lizards, however, their long tongue allows an additional method of attack. Because they are rendered immobile while reeling you in, you can maneuver yourself effectively through the use of their tongue to an angle in which you can strike them. If they are climbing against a background wall when speared, they will drop to the ground and be momentarily stunned. If you're lucky, they may fall off of a cliff.

These lizards take 2-3 spears to kill, though they will sometimes spasm following the second spear. During this spasm they cannot bite or do anything else really, but it will only last a second.

### Stealth

It is important to note that like all lizards, the vision radius of a white lizard is in a 220 degrees starting at the base of their head. They will not see you if you are behind them, so it is safe to sneak past them this way. Of course, this is only useful if you can spot them. White lizards are often pointed out by the overseer, but you can also discern their location by the appearance of their eyes, teeth, and tail against the background, or by making enough noise to get them to salivate. Under some circumstances, their bodies do not fully camouflage and they are somewhat visible as a sort of ghost image.

### Evasion

They are easily able to keep up with slugcat even when running, so great care must be taken when trying to escape from these cunning predators. Throwing rocks at them will knock them off of the background wall, slowing them down significantly. If a slugcat is grabbed by the lizard's tongue, getting close to them or throwing something at them will cause them to let go.

## Trivia

* White lizards are the only terrestrial lizard species to have a white body, rather than a black one. They are also the only lizard to have a black head besides black lizards.
* They are the only lizard species present in the subregion The Leg, and co-inhabit the rest of the Exterior with Oranges and (If playing as Hunter) Cyans.

## Bugs

* Like blue lizards, white lizards commonly get stuck spinning in circles, especially after catching prey.
* Sometimes a white lizard will hook an object such as a grappling worm with its tongue, and not release until hit.