Climate change could cause lizards to die out

According to a scientific study, climate change could cause 20% of the worlds lizard species to die out by 2080.

Data was collected from 200 sites in Mexico by international researchers. After comparing with other data from around the world it was proven that Earth's temperature was rising faster than the lizard could adapt. As reptiles and amphibians are cold blooded, temperature is a big issue and is detected fast. It plays an major part in their daily activities and also how long they can search for food.

These results are very different from previous estimates and provides a warning for humans as scientists often consider reptiles to be the indicators of the overall health of our ecosystem.

Barry Sinervo, a researcher from the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California described how lowland species had moved to higher areas for cooler temperatures. This has also caused existing high land species to go extinct.

The study, which measured carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, concluded that in 2050 6 percent of the worlds lizards will be extinct and it's to late to do anything about that, however, if changes were made now it could save the remaining species.

Sinervo said "if the governments of the world can implement a concerted change to limit our carbon dioxide emissions, then we could bend the curve and hold levels of extinction to the 2050 scenarios, but it has to be a global push."