Also known as the Common Wall Lizard, the European Wall Lizard is very common in France. In the southern parts of the country, a sunny day can see dozens of these basking on the walls of properties and scurrying across the floor.
These wall lizards grow up to about 15cm - 19cm long, of which more than 50% is tail. The patterns and markings vary a lot, from grey to brown, with a varying amount of definition in the patterns. When the eggs first hatch the baby lizards are about 2cm long. Interestingly, they have quite a long life span - up to about 7 years.
The lizards are keen hunters, and eat insects and small invertebrates of most types. Meanwhile they are hunted, mostly by snakes.
Wall lizards have also been introduced into parts of the UK and parts of the USA.
See more wildlife in France.