Editing Lizard (section)

=== In culture ===
Lizards appear in myths and folktales around the world. In [[Australian Aboriginal mythology]], Tarrotarro, the lizard god, split the human race into male and female, and gave people the ability to express themselves in art. A lizard king named Mo'o features in Hawaii and other cultures in Polynesia. In the Amazon, the lizard is the king of beasts, while among the Bantu of Africa, the god UNkulunkulu sent a chameleon to tell humans they would live forever, but the chameleon was held up, and another lizard brought a different message, that the time of humanity was limited.<ref>{{cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Daniel A. |title=Lizards |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTZRUNFQ1x0C&pg=PA15 |year=2004 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=978-0-7614-1580-0 |pages=15–16}}</ref> A popular legend in [[Maharashtra]] tells the tale of how a [[Bengal monitor|common Indian monitor]], with ropes attached, was used to scale the walls of the fort in the [[Battle of Sinhagad]].<ref name="auffenberg">{{cite book |last=Auffenberg |first=Walter |title=The Bengal Monitor |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=1994 |page=494 |isbn=978-0-8130-1295-7}}</ref> 

Lizards in many cultures share the symbolism of snakes, especially as an emblem of resurrection. This may have derived from their regular molting. The motif of lizards on Christian candle holders probably alludes to the same symbolism. According to Jack Tresidder, in Egypt and the Classical world, they were beneficial emblems, linked with wisdom. In African, Aboriginal and Melanesian folklore they are linked to cultural heroes or ancestral figures.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tresidder |first1=Jack |title=the Hutchinson Dictionary of Symbols |date=1997 |publisher=Helicon |location=London| isbn=978-1-85986-059-5 |page=125}}</ref>