Sally Lightfoot Hangs On.

 One of the many highlights for me in Fuerteventura are the wonderfully coloured Sally Lightfoot crabs, that are found on the rocks along the shoreline. 

The reason the crabs get their unusual name is rumoured to come from a Caribbean dancer that had great movement and agility, very much like the crab. They can certainly hang on to the rocks despite being regularly hit and covered by some very powerful waves. The photo below shows tendrils hanging from the legs of the crab that probably help it to cling on to the rocks.

Sally Lightfoot Crab.

Often a larger wave totally covers the crab, but the crab remains sitting happily after the wave has gone.

Sally Lightfoot Crab covered by a wave.

Sally Lightfoot dancing to I'm Still Standing!!

Atlantic Lizards are also quite numerous on Fuerteventura. We even had some in the hotel grounds, where one had presumably been caught by one of the cats in the grounds, as it had lost its tail.

This is the Lizard in the hotel grounds that had lost its tail. The wall must have been quite warm, so it held a foot up. I'm sure he wasn't waving at me.

Atlantic Lizard near Los Molinos.

As ever the Barbary Ground Squirrels caused much entertainment as they ran about in the rocky terrain. In some areas they were extremely tame, those areas where they know they stand a chance of some food.

Barbary Ground Squirrel.

My next post from Fuerteventura will be about some of the smaller creatures we found.