Slow Worm
Featured in: Year 1: Animals, including humans
Slow Worm
A smooth, shiny, legless lizard that looks like a small snake and is often found in gardens.
💡 Fun Facts
Despite its appearance, the slow worm is a lizard, not a worm or a snake. You can tell because it has eyelids and can blink, which snakes cannot do.
Like the common lizard, it can shed its tail to escape from a predator, such as a cat or a bird.
They love to eat slugs, making them a very welcome visitor in a garden.
📅 Through the Year
- Hibernation:November to February
- Active:March to October
Anguis fragilis
means “the brittle serpent”
What does its name mean?
- Anguis — snake, serpentLatin
- fragilis — brittle, easily brokenLatin frangere 'to break', for its break-away tail
- slow worm — a triple muddle — see the storyEnglish (Old English slāwyrm)
Only one part of this creature's name is true: 'fragilis', 'brittle', for the clever trick of snapping off its tail to escape a predator. The rest is all wrong — the 'slow worm' is not slow, not a worm, and not even a snake, but a legless lizard (you can tell, because it can blink its eyes).