Reptiles

Exhibitions

Exhibition | NHM

Nature Lab

Live animals and hands-on interactives show you L.A.’s wild side.

Learn more

Events

See all events

Children holding small blue nets while crouching by a pond

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Junior Naturalist

Learn more

weekly

through 07/11/25

12:00 am

Children digging in a rocky, sand trough with replica fossils

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Fantastic Fossils

Learn more

weekly

through 08/01/25

12:00 am

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Fantastic Fossils

Learn more

weekly

through 08/01/25

12:00 am

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Fantastic Fossils

Learn more

weekly

through 08/01/25

12:00 am

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Fantastic Fossils

Learn more

weekly

through 08/01/25

12:00 am

Stories

A life-like painting of a large lizard lurking over a nest of dinosaur eggs with one already in its mouth

A Monster “Goblin” at the Feet of Dinosaurs

Meet the newly discovered giant, armored lizard named for the Hobbit’s goblin prince

A New Skink in Town

How an iNaturalist observation of a non-native lizard could help protect Southern California’s native species—and its economy

Rectangular stone with Maya glyph depicting a man holding a cacao plant. Campeche, Mexico. AD 600-900.

A Virtual Chocolate-y Tour of the Collections

Explore the collections of the Natural History Museum through the lens of chocolate!

Year of the Dragon

Celebrate the 2024 Lunar New Year, Year of the Dragon, with highlights from the collection

Elephant Hill Community Nature Celebration and Habitat Survey

Join community members and scientists, Saturday, October 14, to celebrate and study nature on Elephant Hill, an open space in North East L.A. valuable to humans and wildlife.

Welcome to the 2023 LA BioBlitz Challenge

Help discover the incredible biodiversity all over Los Angeles!

Discover more

Neftali Camacho inside Herpetology Department

Members Q&A with Nefti Camacho

Reptiles come in all shapes and sizes. From the Thorny devil lizard that uses it's skin to drink water to the Gliding lizard that uses skin flaps for gliding, learn about various reptiles and their unique adaptations with Nefti Camacho, Collections Manager for NHMLAC’s Herpetology collection!

Dr. Greg Pauly with a snake in front of a green screen.

Animal Oddities with Dr. Greg Pauly

In Animal Oddities, Dr. Pauly will talk about NHMLAC's role as a global leader in community science, sharing details about the UNRC's efforts to create new ways to understand and connect to urban nature by inviting hundreds of community members to conduct biodiversity research that would not have been possible without their partnership.

Members Appreciation Month: Animal Oddities with Dr. Greg Pauly

Dr. Pauly will talk about NHMLAC's role as a global leader in community science.

NHMLAC Discovery Talk with Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe

Join Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe as he explores the migration of vertebrate fauna to the Caribbean Islands and the effects of climate change on his field work.

Night of Ideas 2020 - Animal Meet and Greet with Leslie Gordon

NHMLAC Discovery Talk with Leslie Gordon

Meet Leslie Gordon, our Manager of Vertebrate Living Collections, and watch her share what her team has been up to during the museum's temporary closure, including telemedicine and museum walkabouts.

News & Press

New Species of Armored, Monstersaur Lizard that Lived Alongside Dinosaurs Identified by NHM Paleontologists

Discovery of Bolg amondol, a name inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe, reveals the complex evolutionary history of giant Gila Monster relatives

A new study finds that land-dwelling crocodile-like sebecids were the apex predators of the West Indies, surviving on the islands after vanishing from South America

A Lighthouse in the Gobi Desert

A new study quantifies the impact of the world’s great fossil sites on our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups and discovers the key to understanding lizard evolutionary history in the Gobi Desert.

Effort Connects More Than a Billion Objects in Scientific Collections Across 73 Museums in 28 Countries

Findings Shared in New Paper Published in Science Magazine on March 23, 2023