A large, stout lizard found in the deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico that can puff up its body or squeeze into rock crevices for protection.
From Spanish 'chacahuala' or Cahuilla (Native American language) origins. The word traveled through Spanish into English during the colonial period as settlers encountered the reptile in the American Southwest.
The chuckwalla has an amazing defense mechanism—it inflates its body with air to wedge itself so tightly in rock crevices that predators can't pull it out, making it one of nature's cleverest escape artists.
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