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Ready to DuelLong-nosed chameleons like this one in Madagascar sometimes use their snouts to joust. Their noses also help similar species identify each other. (Read our recent feature on chameleons.)

Photograph by Christian Ziegler, Nat Geo Image Collection

They Kill. They Joust. They Heal. Reptiles in 10 Awesome Photos

On Reptile Awareness Day, photos of albino alligators, chameleons who fight with their noses, and one hungry snake.

ByBecky Little

October 21, 2015

It’s tough earning people’s sympathy when a lot of them are afraid of you.

That might explain why reptiles don’t get the same conservation attention as cute and cuddly-looking mammals. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t need it—a third of the reptile species evaluated by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species are recognized as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.

To give the more than 8,000 species of reptiles a little more recognition on Reptile Awareness Day, here are some of our favorite photos of snakes, lizards, crocodiles and other cold-blooded creatures.

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