These ground-dwelling lizards are amazingly good dead-leaf mimics, and they know it. They sit perfectly still, relying on their camouflage, unless approached very closely. Then they race off a ways and freeze once again. This one is not in full camouflage mode because I managed to catch it and get it to pose for a few moments on a small branch.

Here is a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on my 2013 MT Amazon Expeditions trip.

Here's a more typical position, poised in the leaf litter and partly obscured by it.

Here's another that I managed to catch and pose in the open.

I had good luck with these lizards this year. I saw a number of them either before they ran off, or after they ran just a short distance and then struck a pose of "you can't see me because I am so well-camouflaged".

Here is a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on my 2014 MT Amazon Expeditions trip.

Another nicely self-posed little camouflaged lizard.

I laughed out loud when I saw each of these two leaf lizards. (The second and third photos are of the same lizard from opposite angles.) Did they think they were hidden, sitting completely exposed on high-contrast backgrounds? They must have been pretty confident, since neither of them moved when I (and then several others) took their photos. So much for their much-vaunted camouflage.

My Travelogues and Trip Lists page includes a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on my 2016 MT Amazon Expeditions trip.