Moloch horridus, a species that is considered not sustainable eats, but the juggernaut 1500 ants a day and in addition a way that we can not obtain here Iridomyrmex sp.; different food he refused.
1: Moloch horridus in the field. The salient characteristic spines, the sulfur-green scales lots of plump hump in the neck and tail straight up asked. is when viewing this perishable animal can not be overlooked that the juggernaut solidifies to movements in the environment and to sound and that if he bekrabbeln feeding insects it remains motionless for hours with his eyes closed. Moloch are extremely sensitive to stress.
It must be avoided so that the juggernaut is in a stressful situation. Since it was obvious that the container Screens provided and to avoid any noise and vibration in any space. The insects may be dissuaded by a wet track in the sand like this, bekrabbeln to the juggernaut. Such a "road ants" in a brown paper glued down with terrarium in a quiet place were the key factors that made possible an adaptation. Then the juggernaut easily eats small crickets and Drosophila hydei. The offspring (Fig. 2), I raised it and it has no signs of problems given.
2: Molochg horridus pups. Another issue is the regular watering. Even freshly caught Moloch drink plenty when you drip water on the neck and I have the juggernaut later watered regularly (at least once per week). This had been proven to Phrynosomen and in both cases, the argument comes from an arid area - needs no water "obvious but obviously wrong. Moloch have a high water requirement and may, therefore, a unique adaptation for holding water. In the skin kapillarfeine gutters, the water against gravity can migrate to the mouth angle. In the outback there is a common fun be read to set a juggernaut in an ashtray with water and watch as the water travels up the juggernaut and he begins to drink after all.
This peculiar lizard has developed a series of very remarkable adaptations to extreme conditions and I find it useful to investigate these biological characteristics in captivity. If the "Langsterbigkeit" so-called species grateful gives the standard for durability, our understanding of the needs of the animals will hardly improve. The constantly repeated demand for animal welfare is logically wrong, in our modest knowledge just can not avoid the welfare of the his goal. An attitude and observation of Moloch in the enclosure can provide more insights than a study of the water and energy balance by injecting radioactively labeled substances, and regular blood sampling by puncturing the ocular sinus in the open (1).
behaved After acclimatization, the juggernaut like Phrynosomen. However, I fell on three behavioral characteristics:
a) I have seen in several years, never dig a juggernaut themselves, they are at night next to a clump of grass or piece of bark on the sand.
b) I have never seen a juggernaut of objects or stones lick the floor, but only to property (usually grass stems), the slightly protrude above the head in their path (Fig. 3).
3: Moloch licking blade of grass that stands in his way. c) The Moloch turns a strange move that I have called humps (Fig. 4). He bent his head steeply down between the front legs, so that the "hump", that strange hump, almost takes up the position of the head. The eyes bulge out well ahead under the closed eyelids and the juggernaut tries to reinforce the bend yet, by withdrawing its front feet (Figure 5 we see the claw marks of this movement). In this position he retained an average of 20 seconds. Then he swallows and continues its normal behavior. This striking movement occurs at the morning, between 10 und 11 clock and occasionally in the afternoon between 3 and 4 clock on.
4: Moloch the bumps 
5: By retracting the front feet during the bucking is the bending of the head intensified. The resulting clearly visible scratch marks. To a) A work (2) the collection moves from dew in the numerous spines considered. This Nichteingraben this would fit perfectly. For certainly digging would be obvious during the night in relation to the nocturnal cooling and security from predators.
Re b) The licking lizards used in the recording of fragrances, including conspecific scent marks. Certainly the Outback difficult, because you can observe daily the blow after drying of the morning dew on the sand with a slight breeze already in long flags starts. Scent marks on the ground should therefore be hard to find. If, however, should serve this strange tail held upright for labeling, it could be a very useful way to adapt the coming together of partners in the very thin be populated habitats of the Outback. To balance any case, the vertical tail is held upright useless. Of these, one can easily convince at the steps of the lumbering juggernaut. As optical character recognition could be the vertical tail held serve at best (see Figure 1). Anyway, I found the animals because otherwise they would hardly be recognized.
I first searched in histological sections of tail flexion to glands that could be used for marking. In a second I was looking for histology in the tail. Both times without success. In a third attempt I've found in the rostral tail portion peculiar cartilaginous duct, but no apocrine glands. For other sections I lack the material.
to c): The histological examination of the "hump" above the neck hump is at the base of a prominent vascular plexus and a cluster of very thin-walled vessels (Fig. 6).
Figure 6: Cross section through the base of the "hump" said Buckel. A, artery, V vein, P, plexus. Evidence endothelial gaps could not succeed with such a simple histology. Overall, I assume, however, that the juggernaut of the bending of the neck obstructs venous outflow or interrupts. Through the resulting increase in pressure brought about not only the Augenbulbi be pre-pressed clearly, but also in the Gefässplexi at the base of the hump, blood is pressed out liquid. I therefore assume that the hump is a water reservoir that can buffer the metabolic water. This can be considered horridus as an additional adjustment to the extreme scarcity of the habitat of Moloch.
1: Withers PC and Bradshaw SD, Water and energy balance of the thorny devil Moloch horridus: is the devil a sloth? Amphibia-Reptilia 16, 47-54, 1995.
2: Gans C, Merlin R. and Blumer WFC, The water-collecting mechanism of Moloch horridus re-examined. Amphibia-Reptilia 3, 57-64, 1982.
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