Are Lizards Related to Humans? (The Surprising Truth

If you’ve ever watched a lizard crawl along a wall or blink slowly in the sun, you might’ve thought: “Wait, could we actually be related?”

I mean, lizards have bones, eyes, lungs, and tiny hearts that beat. They breathe air just like we do. They’re not alien bugs or jellyfish. So it’s natural to ask, are lizards really related to humans?

Yes, lizards are distantly related to humans because all vertebrates share a common ancestor that lived hundreds of millions of years ago. That ancestor eventually gave rise to reptiles, like lizards, and mammals, like us. Even though lizards look nothing like humans on the outside, deep down in their DNA and body structure, we share some very old family roots.

It might sound strange, but when you think about it, it starts to make sense. It’s a pretty cool story about where both humans and lizards came from.

How Far Back Does That Connection Go?

To see when humans and lizards split, you have to go way back, about 320 to 350 million years ago, long before dinosaurs existed.

Back then, there were no mammals or reptiles. The Earth was full of swamps, giant insects, and fish-like creatures trying to walk on land.

Somewhere in that world lived a group of early four-legged animals, the first ones with backbones that could live partly on land.

Those creatures are the real ancestors of both humans and lizards. Over time, they split into two main branches:

• One branch led to reptiles, and later to lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles, and birds.

• The other branch led to mammals, and eventually to us.

So when you see a lizard on your wall, you’re basically looking at a distant cousin that took a completely different path hundreds of millions of years ago.

What Lizards And Humans Still Have In Common

Even though we’ve gone in very different directions, we still share some surprising things with lizards.

Both humans and lizards have backbones and skeletons made of bone. That alone separates us from animals like insects or jellyfish that don’t have any bones.

Here are a few more things we still share:

• Eyes and vision systems: Both have eyelids, retinas, and nerves that send signals to the brain.

• Lungs for breathing: Lizards and humans both take oxygen from the air using lungs.

• Hearts that pump blood: Lizards have three-chambered hearts while humans have four, but both move oxygen around the body in the same basic way.

• Hormones and chemical signals: Both have chemicals like adrenaline that help with stress and reacting to danger.

Even in our DNA, you can see shared sequences, bits of code passed down from those ancient land animals. Scientists have even found certain genes, like Hox genes, that shape where limbs and organs grow in both reptiles and mammals.

Why Do Lizards Look So Different Then?

If humans and lizards share that much, why do they seem so different?

Millions of years of evolution did the work. After the early ancestors split, reptiles evolved to handle hot, dry environments with scaly skin and cold-blooded bodies.

Mammals went the other way: they became warm-blooded, grew hair, and learned to control body temperature.

So lizards survive by basking in the sun, while humans generate heat from inside. Lizards lay eggs, humans grow babies inside their bodies.

Lizards have sprawling limbs for crawling and climbing, while humans stand upright and walk long distances.

Basically, both groups used what they had and adapted in very different ways.

Do Lizards Think Like Us?

When you see a lizard sitting still, you might wonder if it’s thinking at all. Lizards have brains, but they’re much smaller and simpler than ours.

They have areas for vision, movement, and basic instincts like hunting or escaping danger.

But the parts of the brain linked to complex thoughts, emotions, and reasoning, like the neocortex in humans, aren’t as developed in lizards.

Still, that doesn’t mean they’re dumb. Lizards can learn, remember, and even recognize patterns. Some studies show they can find their way through mazes or remember feeding times.

So they don’t think like humans, but they’re far from mindless.

What Evolution Tells Us About Our Shared Past

If you could go back in time far enough, you’d meet the shared ancestor of humans and lizards, probably a small, amphibian-like creature living near water.

From there, one group developed scaly skin and eggs that worked better in dry places. That group became reptiles.

Another group developed softer skin, different skulls, and warm-bloodedness. That group became mammals.

It’s kind of wild: one ancient creature’s descendants became both humans and lizards.

Do Humans Still Have Reptile Traits?

In a way, yes. Parts of our bodies are still built on a reptile plan.

Inside our brains is a part sometimes called the “reptilian brain.” It controls instincts like aggression, survival, and defending territory.

We’re not secretly reptiles, it’s just that this part of the brain evolved early and is shared with many vertebrates, including reptiles.

Our skeletons also carry that old design. The basic layout of skulls, spines, ribs, and limbs is the same plan found in reptiles, just shaped over time.

Even our hands and feet follow the same pattern of bones reptiles had.

So we’re still carrying the architecture of ancient reptilian ancestors inside us, just built on over millions of years.

What About Dinosaurs And Lizards?

Some people mix up lizards and dinosaurs because they both look reptilian. But lizards aren’t direct descendants of dinosaurs. They just share a common ancestor further back on the reptile tree.

Dinosaurs were part of a group called archosaurs, which also gave rise to crocodiles and eventually birds. Lizards belong to another group called lepidosaurs, along with snakes and tuataras.

Humans and lizards are distant cousins, while dinosaurs are more like another branch of the extended reptile family.

A Simple Way To Picture It

Imagine a giant family tree. At the base is a mysterious ancestor that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, a four-legged, fish-like animal learning to walk on land.

From there, two big branches grow:

• One side becomes the amniotes: reptiles, birds, and mammals.

• The other side includes amphibians, like frogs and salamanders, that stayed near water.

The reptile branch splits again, mammals go one way, reptiles the other. Later, lizards, snakes, crocodiles, and birds evolve along the reptile branch, while humans appear way up the mammal branch.

Looked at that way, humans and lizards are just very distant relatives, cousins separated by about 320 million years.

Why This Connection Matters

You might think this is just a random fact, but it actually changes how you see life. Realizing humans and lizards share ancient ancestors shows how connected all living things are.

That tiny lizard basking in the sun and the person watching it both come from the same long line of life that survived mass extinctions, climate changes, and everything in between. It’s kind of humbling.

It’s also a reminder that even though humans think we’re separate or more advanced, we’re still part of the same huge, ancient story as every other animal with a backbone.

Conclusion

So, are lizards related to humans? Yes, but only in a very distant way. We both came from the same ancient animals that first learned to live on land over 300 million years ago.

Since then, lizards went their own way, adapting to sun and sand, while humans evolved in a completely different direction. But deep down, in our bones and DNA, there’s still a shared history connecting us.

Next time you see a lizard on your wall or in your garden, take a moment to think about it. That tiny reptile isn’t just another animal, it’s a faraway cousin, still walking the same Earth, carrying the same ancient blueprint of life that runs through all of us.