It's probably not much fun being a small reptile-snake, lizard, crocodile, turtle or tortoise. Because you always have to be alert for predators. A young crocodile, for example, can be gobbled up by birds, jackals, frogs, big fish, big crocodiles, turtles, man ... to name a few. Not much time to relax and a lot of worries. How can a small animal defend itself against a much, much larger predator? It would be ridiculous for a tree snake to pretend it could fight off an eagle or for a skink to believe it could overpower a crocodile. So the next best thing is to bluff and trick your way through life and reptiles are very good at this.

When a cobra spreads its hood and sits up, hissing, it's nothing but bluff and pretence. It wants you to think it is much more dangerous than it really is. Frogs bloat their bodies with air to make themselves look big and scary. Snakes and lizards open their mouths wide and puff themselves up. Quite often, this is enough to frighten away the bird or other predator that is looking for food. Crocodiles and lizards also do a "high walk",raising their bodies off the ground to look scary. It is rather funny to see a small gecko raising itself in this boastful posture. But it works and another that is trying to invade its territory-or eat it up-will quickly retreat.

Some lizards, like geckos and skinks, can drop their tails when caught. This is a very useful trick. It directs the attention of the predator away from the head of the animal to the tail without which it can manage until it grows back. While the predator is puzzling over the wriggling item, the animal runs off.

How is it possible to drop a tail? The muscles of the vertebrae of these animals are so loosely connected that they separate and break off easily. The broken part wriggles for a while because it retains its muscular activity for some time after coming off. Geckos can chuck their tails off even before they are caught! This is indeed useful. While the predator is scratching its head in wonder-or chomping on the tail- the gecko's off. However at certain times of year, when food is scarce, they are not so happy about dropping their tail, because that's where fat is stored!

skink: Smooth-bodied lizard mostly found in tropical and temperate regions, a skink has short or absent limbs and typically burrows in sandy ground.