The defence answers a specific problem. The lizard's armour is excellent on the back and flanks and poor on the belly, and its usual refuge is a narrow rock crack. Away from the crack it cannot outrun a jackal or a bird of prey. Rolling into a ring puts the spiny dorsal and lateral scales outward and encloses the vulnerable underside, and gripping the tail locks the posture so it cannot easily be prised open.
The genus name Ouroborus, applied when the species was moved out of Cordylus, refers directly to the ancient image of a serpent eating its own tail. Within rock cracks the same armour works differently: a wedged lizard is very hard to extract.
The species is unusual among lizards for its sociality, with groups of up to around thirty sharing a crack system, and for bearing one or two live young rather than laying eggs. It is listed as Near Threatened, with collection for the pet trade a documented pressure, since the rolled posture makes an animal easy to pick up once found.