Gallotia bravoanaHutterer, 1985

Gomera Giant Lizard

Photograph by Nanosanchez, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A ground-dwelling, day-active, plant-eating lizard from the Afrotropic region, reaching 212 mm snout to vent.

Once published as Gallotia gomerana — those names reach this page.

Reptilia › Squamata › Lacertidae › Gallotia

Grows to: 212mm; greatest recorded
Eats: Herbivorous
Active: Diurnal
Lives up to: 6years

Body length across Lacertidae

Longer than 98% of all species in Lacertidae anyone has measured.

98% of 372 species are smaller2% larger

35 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest444 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 35 to 444 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

40 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living: Extant
Conservation status: Critically Endangered
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked: 2008
Population trend: Increasing
Red List criteria: D

The animal itself

Limbs: Four legs
Venomous: No
Fangs: None
Longest recorded life: 6years
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild: 36°C97 °F
Body temp in the wild · mean, when active: 36°C

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded: 212mm8.25 in
Length snout to vent · adult female mean: 172.3mm6.75 in
Largest female · snout to vent: 117.8mm4.75 in
Hatchling length · snout to vent: 44.05mm1.75 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent: 44.1mm1.75 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed: 209.9g7.4 oz
Body mass at hatchingmeasured: 2.51g0.09 oz

How it lives

Diet: Herbivorous
Active: Diurnal
Where it lives: Terrestrial
Habitat: Rocky, Shrubland
Biome: Mediterranean
Region: Afrotropic
Mainland or island: Found only on islands
Elevation · above sea level: 250–800m
Range size: 109km²

Breeding

Reproduction: Oviparous
Average clutch: 5eggs
Eggs or young per clutch: 2–8eggs
Clutches in a year: 1per year
Clutches a year: 1per year
First breeds at: 24months

Naming and history

Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Laterata
Subspecies: No
Described by: Hutterer
Moved to another genus · since it was first described: No
Described in: 1985
Type locality: Spain (Canary Islands)

Keeping one

Gomera Giant Lizard is assessed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Species at risk in the wild are often covered by CITES and by national law, which decide what may be bought, sold, moved across a border or kept at all — and captive-bred and wild-caught animals are usually treated differently. Check the rules where you are before acquiring one. Nothing below is a judgement about keeping this species; it is what a published welfare standard says about space, and what the animal itself was measured doing.

2 ft 9 in × 2 ft 9 in × 21 in(85 × 85 × 53 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 8.25 in (212 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

Active animals measured in the wild averaged 97 °F (36 °C).

Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

Prey size does not apply. A herbivore's diet is judged on fibre, on the ratio of calcium to phosphorus, and on avoiding plants high in oxalates.

The animal does not take prey items. This is established practice, not a measurement.

23kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 210 g, the heaviest recorded for Gomera Giant Lizard — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

— Length snout to vent · adult male mean
— Length snout to vent · adult mean
— Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
— Female length · mean, nose to tail
— Length nose to tail · adult male mean
— Length nose to tail · adult mean
— Largest male · snout to vent
— Largest female · shell length
— Largest male · shell length
— Hatchling length · nose to tail
— Largest juvenile · shell length
— Egg length
— Egg width
— Body mass · a typical adult
— Body mass · adult female, mean
— Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
— Eats arthropods
— Eats vertebrates
— Eats plant matter
— How it hunts
— How the young develop
— Gestation or incubation
— Mean clutch · smallest reported
— Mean clutch · largest reported
— Hatchling length · smallest recorded
— Hatchling length · largest recorded
— Age at first breeding · female
— Mature from · youngest recorded
— Mature by · oldest recorded
— Size at maturity · smallest recorded
— Size at maturity · largest recorded
— Colour on the back
— Pattern on the back
— Pupil
— Sex decided by
— Active season · shortest recorded
— Active season · longest recorded
— Density · lowest recorded
— Density · highest recorded
— Home range · largest recorded
— Active in

Others in Lacertidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Gallotia bravoana. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/gallotia-bravoana

@misc{gallotia_bravoana_2026,
  title  = {Gallotia bravoana},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/gallotia-bravoana}
}

Sources

Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.