The salt flats fighter: agonistic survival of Liolaemus fabiani in the Salar de Atacama

Liolaemus fabiani is a lizard that lives in the Salar de Atacama, located in the center of the Atacama Desert, northern Chile, one of the driest places on the planet. Likely due to the extreme environmental conditions of their habitat, L. fabiani has colonized all watercourse shores of the Puilar pond where the primary source of food, flies, are confined. By ‘owning’ these shores, they can retain resources, explaining their natural sense of territory and their world-renowned aggressive territorial behavior. From the perspective of the lizard, the battlefield is a narrow stretch between mountains of halite salt and the water, which leads to a winner-take-all type territory. The winning lizard is rewarded with control of the food supply, access to females and a privileged space to survive. This modern gladiator faces his opponent with an unmatched ferocity, although there are rarely, if ever, deaths between the contenders. Like other vertebrates, the defense of the territory is a cooperative job with the alpha female. She releases pheromone compounds, conferring an advantage to her partner to proceed ruthlessly to attack the intruder, on land or in water, in order to obtain victory. The victorious lizard gains ownership of the land, leaving no doubts of his claim to other would-be challengers.