This photo contains a potential Randall fan.
The source says it’s a blue-tougued skink. Randall does have a bluish-tongue (to me, the latter’s tongue resembles that of a water monitor), so, what do you guys think?!
Well, the glasses are almost right, anyway. I’ve had Blue-Tongued Skinks; they are actually popular as pets here in the US, at least. They don’t remind me much of Randall at all actually. They are very slow-pokey, lazy animals with stumpy little legs and those fat, sausage bodies, and that’s part of their appeal. They are easy to house and handle because they’re not prone to running or making sudden movements. Their tongues, like those of most lizards, are flat and wide, more like a dog’s, but they do happen to be bright blue. They gape open their mouths and stick out those wide blue tongues as a defense when they feel threatened; supposedly it startles would-be predators and makes them think the lizard is much more fierce than it really is. Running away is just not an option for these guys, after all. Randall’s tongue is much more like the tongue of a Monitor or even more like a Tegu’s, because it is forked at the end, but it’s also wider and flatter than a Monitor’s, even thought many Monitors also have dark blue tongues while Tegus have pink tongues. Randall has some combined traits of various lizard families; his head is shaped more like an Agama’s, he has that Tegu tongue, he has the adhesive pads on his fingers and toes like a Gecko, the prehensile tail of a Tree Monitor, and scales more like an Iguana’s. One thing he does NOT have, though, is a Chameleon trait, even though most people associate his color-change ability with a Chameleon’s. Chameleons change color VERY slowly, and do not change in order to hide, but to stand out, to communicate with other Chameleons. They have a limited repertoire of colors and patterns that are specific to each species and to their gender. Randall’s color change is much more sophisticated, and he DOES use it to hide, to blend in, making his ability far more like that of Cephalopods, like Octopus and Cuttlefish, than any reptile. His body, teeth, skeletal structure and metabolism, though, are distinctly mammalian.
pitbulllady
I’ve noticed that you are quite knowledgeable on reptiles and such. 
Even though the purpose of this thread was rather to comment and discuss the cuteness of the glasses-wearing lizard picture, I do agree that Randall resembles an Agamid or a tree monitor overall in his build. This is how I figured him out, based on my observations (and some of your input):
- Agamid/tree monitor body
- Larger than a Komodo (in size, that is)
- Serpentine flexibility
- Gator teeth
- Water monitor tongue
- Antennae crest resembling the spikes running down an iguana’s back (though in this case, only on the head)
- Gecko-like fingers and toes
- Color changing ability loosely based on a chameleon (even though I’ve seen some chameleon photos showing them blending in: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%27s_Dwarf_Chamaeleon)
And here’s something interesting. There is one known reptile that is warm-blooded… the Desert Iguana: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile#Metabolism
So yeah, I guess Randy’s a mix of all these traits. The Cephalopod bit you mentioned is interesting too, now that I think about it. Maybe I should photoshop all these reptilian characteristics onto that original picture someday, just to see how it turns out.
Randall is as long as, if not longer, than a Komodo Dragon, but he has far less overall bulk and would not weigh as much as a big Komodo, which can weigh over 350 pounds compared to Randall’s 220. From some of the early concept art of Randall, it’s clear that both his striped pattern and his fronds WERE originally based on an Iguana; in fact, he basically WAS an Iquana just with more than the usual compliment of limbs. Unlike an Iguana’s scutes, though, Randall’s fronds aren’t modified scales, but fleshy appendages that probably are both a secondary sex characteristic(think of a rooster’s comb)and possibly help his to dissipate excess heat. In MU, he’s got a pretty noticeable case of acne, which means that he has oil and sweat glands in his skin, which no reptile has or needs. Only warm-blooded animals have oil glands and only a few mammals have the ability to perspire to regulate their temperature.
Randall’s teeth are actually nothing at all like an alligator’s. Alligators and other crocodilians have conical teeth which are rounded in cross-section, and do not have teeth at the front of their jaws, but have a space in front where the teeth do not grow. Reptile teeth are only found along the sides of the jawbones. Randall’s teeth are flattened front-to-back, like our incisors, and pointier in front while more blunt in the rear of his jaws, indicated specialization, with his front and rear teeth being designed for different purposes, something not found in reptiles.
The Chameleons in those photos did NOT change color to blend in; that’s their default coloration seen in their normal environment. They will change color to contrast with that background to communicate with other Chameleons. If you REALLY want to see some amazing camouflage via instantaneous color/pattern change, check THIS out: youtube.com/watch?v=PmDTtkZlMwM . That is much more like Randall’s ability than any lizard can manage! The other Wikipedia article also does not state that the Desert Iguana is warm-blooded, only that it, like many other desert reptiles, has an optimal body temperature requirement that parallels the internal core temperature of most mammals. That is true of popular pets like Bearded Dragons and the Blue-Tongue Skink as well; you must have a heat source in their cages that provides a basking temperature of around 100 degrees Fahrenheit because this is the ideal body temperature for those desert lizards. If they get much cooler for a prolonged period of time, they will get sick and die, and that’s what happened to my Blue-Tongue; we had a power outage due to an ice storm, and even with me putting him inside my shirt, he still got chilled and developed lethal pneumonia. The Desert Iguana is not able to produce its own internal body heat and must still rely on an external heat source, i.e., the sun, to heat it up to that optimal temperature. Temperate-region reptiles, like Corn Snakes, function best at around 70-70 degrees Fahrenheit, much below mammalian body temperatures. Most tropical reptiles, like Water Monitors and Green Iguanas, need to be kept around 85 degrees. They still are unable to produce that heat themselves. Randall, in contrast, runs around in MU in January, while there is still ice on the trees, wearing just a ROR sweater, and he is quite comfortable(physically at least; emotionally that’s another story)and active. He is quite obviously an endothermic(“warm-blooded”) being, having the need to sweat to keep cool and the ability to function in cold temperatures year-round.
pitbulllady