Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

NOTE: Photograph at right is copyright Dr. Steven Goldsmith, used with permission.
"Mountain Boomer" is a term with several different meanings. In the southeast U.S., it refers to "hillbilly" folk and the red squirrel. In the Pacific Northwest, it refers to a beaver-like rodent. Some varieties of apples are even called "mountain boomers." For purposes of our company name, "Mountain Boomer" refers to the 19th-century American settlers' name for the Eastern Collared Lizard, Crotaphytus collaris.

Collared Lizards: genus Crotaphytus, from the Greek words krotaphos meaning "temple" or "side of the head" and phyton meaning "creature" or "animal." Thus, Crotaphytus can be taken to mean "a creature with impressive temples." While this may not mean much to a person who's never seen one of these lizards, after one glance at this animal's powerful jaws (for its size) it is easy to see why they are so named.

Eastern Collared Lizard, or "Mountain Boomer:" Crotaphytus collaris, which means "a collared creature with impressive temples." Both the scientific name and the common name refer to prominent black and white bands, or "collars," on the lizard's neck.

Collared lizards reach a total length of around 14 inches, most of which is tail. They come in a variety of colors, ranging from various shades of green and brown to a beautiful cobalt blue or yellow in some locales. The head is usually yellow to brown. Females, while usually more drab than the males, develop beautiful pink to orange markings when they are gravid with eggs. Interesting facts about this lizard include its ability to run on its hind legs like a little dinosaur and its eating habits--although primarily insectivorous, it will eat almost whatever will fit into its mouth, including other lizards!

Collared lizards inhabit a wide range of habitat, with a preference for areas with rocky outcroppings. Males especially are territorial and can often be found spaced quite predictably, each perched on his lookout rock surveying his domain. On a positive note of human activity actually FAVORING animal habitat, with the advent of the US Army Corps of Engineers' water reservoir dam-building activities of the 20th century, many populations of collared lizards have found ideal habitat among the "rip-rap" of the boulders used to shore up the earthen embankments on either side of the dams.
The early pioneers (and even some people today) thought collared lizards were poisonous, and called them "Mountain Boomers," presumably in the erroneous belief that these lizards were the source of unknown loud noises coming from rocky hillsides. Whatever those mysterious noises turned out to be, they weren't coming from the lizards, as they make no such loud noises. However, as contributor Bob Green notes, they are capable of hissing at passerby in defense of their territory. Another bit of folklore says collared lizards can predict rain, as mentioned on this site.
The myth has been perpetuated that the source of the loud noises the settlers heard and erroneously attributed to these lizards was a frog. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation makes this claim on its web site, as does Missouri's, and it's mentioned in countless reptile/amphibian field guides. The only problem is that the range of the amphibian suspects does not coincide with the pioneer overland trails, whereas the collared lizard's range does. Unfortunately, the origin of the "frog hypothesis" is unknown. Local residents in Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, and Arkansas are known to still refer to collared lizards as mountain boomers.

The owner of Mountain Boomer Music chose the name for our company in a moment of nostalgia for his native Oklahoma, where the collared lizard is the State Reptile. It's also a fitting name for a MIDI company, since MIDI files themselves don't produce sound--they're just a set of instructions for telling machines how to make music--although they are often mistakenly thought of as being sound files.Just Sayin…RJS

Jer Loc: N. Illinois 🇺🇸

Very interesting read, RJ. Thanks.
There is no picture. Can you attach it please.

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

I am sorry but cannot attach the picture. I've tried several times with no results. You can Google the term Mountain Boomer and pull it up. Just Sayin...RJS

Jer Loc: N. Illinois 🇺🇸

Thanks for trying.

nutz4fish Loc: Colchester, CT

RJ : I did look and they are an interesting mix of beautiful but ugly to my eye. Thanx for these cool posts !