Natalie, at the age you post your Mali's, you should see distinct color differences between the males and females. The males usually have black heads and legs with bright yellowish backs, while the females tend to remain drab and more brown and tan in color. The head bobbing sounds male, while the arm flapping sounds female. Can you see distinct color differences in the animals that do these behaviours(black headed males bobbing while drab females arm flap)? I would suspect its the males fighting each other, and once again you can note if the black headed/legged males are the ones fighting the most. However, with uros even females can be territorial against other females as well as males.



Hemipenal bulges refer to the bulges the males hemipenes form in the vent region. If you look at the underside of the tails near the vent openings, males may exhibit more bulging below the vent due to the hemipenes. Females typically do not have a pronounced bulge below the vent. The females vents may also be smaller/less wide because they do not have to extrude hemipenes.



I am by no means a uro expert, but these generalizations hold true for most reptiles, and display/coloration differences with most lizards.



Good luck!

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