Scientists warn in a research paper published on Thursday that if the planet continues to heat up at current rates, 20 percent of all lizard species could go extinct by 2080.

"The numbers are actually pretty scary," said lead researcher Barry Sinervo from the University of California Santa Cruz. "We've got to try to limit climate change impacts right now or we are sending a whole bunch of species into oblivion."

A mass extinction of lizards, which eat insects and are eaten by birds, could have devastating effects up and down the food chain, but the extent is difficult to predict.

Sinervo made models of lizards with thermal monitors and left them in the searing sun of southern Mexico to measure how the reptiles would react to temperatures at different altitudes.

Lizards bask in the sun not to relax but for self-preservation. As "ectotherms" they depend on the external environment to control their body temperature.

Unlike mammals, when the reptiles overheat they cannot sweat or pant and they have to retreat to the shade or burrow under a rock to cool down.

This biological quirk has already led to the extinction of 5 percent of lizard populations around the world, Sinervo said, as the creatures spend more time scrambling to find shade and less time doing what they need to do to survive.

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