Cordylus cataphractus, also known as the South African armadillo lizard, is a suborder of lizards, ring-tailed lizards.
The body is about 20 centimeters long, the body is covered with huge armor-like scales, dark yellow, when in danger, they will take the tail in their mouths, face all the hard scales to the enemy to protect the soft part of the abdomen, they will even roll down the hillside in this posture and escape. This strange way of escaping is very similar to another strange mammal, the armadillo, hence the name.
Habit inhabits flat sandstone land, daily, living in groups of 8-10, male and female are very difficult to distinguish, is a fetal lizard, only 1 to 2 larvae per year.
It is said that it is on the verge of extinction because of the cuteness of the big catch.
Listed on the IUCN's 2013 Red List of Threatened Species ver3.1 – Vulnerable (VU).