Follow biologists locating, and relocating, chuckwallas for South Mountain Freeway

By Mike Harris and John Dougherty / ADOT Communications

Capturing chuckwallas is no easy task. We saw that ourselves recently when we followed biologists searching cracks other hiding places to locate and move these large lizards from a segment where South Mountain Freeway construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2018.

As our news release notes, chuckwallas need a hand to relocate. Unlike most other animals, they hunker down rather than flee when facing danger.

Approximately 120 chuckwallas were captured and released several hundred feet away when biologists made several visits to the area over the summer.

The video above and photo slideshow below show the search, as well as how biologists weighed, measured and tagged chuckwallas before releasing them.