Basin wiki · Animals
Desert night lizard
Xantusia vigilis
A tiny, secretive lizard that lives in fallen Joshua tree limbs and other tight cover.
In the basin
Night lizards hide under yucca logs, bark, and rock flakes. You are more likely to lift a fallen limb and find one than to see it basking like a chuckwalla. Leave the dead wood; it is housing. Wikipedia and the park’s reptile list have the species.