Friday, April 13, 2007

Earth's Greatest Hits -- Part I: Lizards


Look. At. These. Creatures.



























And this, apparently, is not a snake, but a freaking legless lizard. What?

Thank you for spending a moment looking at lizards. Can you believe how amazing? I was looking for some reference for an illustration and I kept crying out, "Wow!" and "Holy Cow! Look at this one!" and I had to share. I'm such a big kid this way, being constantly overwhelmed and amazed by the weird wonderfulness of our planet, I will probably turn this into a random little series of celebrations. I wonder what will be up next.

21 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm going to use some of my big kid dorkiness about animals and say that the legless lizard is a lizard and not a snake cause his jaw doesn't dislocate or something, maybe he can't swallow his meals whole or something. I was a big freaking animal nerd as a kid--but I don't remember any legless lizards! I'm going to look them up right now!

Unknown said...

so i just looked and they are lizards because their tails detach and they have eyelids and lizard organs! freaking cool!

Anonymous said...

I was never a fan of lizards until we moved to the tropics. Oh, how I miss the gekkos...I LOVED the gekkos! The iguanas still scare me though...I keep my distance with those...they can be snappish (I know of someone who was bitten by one in a restaurant). But I did love standing at the sink in our condo there, looking randomly out the window and often seeing an iguana chilling in the tree off our balcony. I never got over how positively prehistoric they look.

Deirdre said...

A lizard suns him(her)self on our front steps every afternoon, then dashes into the bushes when I walk by. I'm getting attached to the little bugger. Great pictures, Laini. Lizards are kinda fascinating.

Kim G. said...

Have you been watching the special series on Discovery Chanel called "Planet Earth"? Last weekend they had these funky rainbow colored lizards that were flat. When they stood up and turned sideways, they disappeared. Seriously! That show is my family's favorite right now. I love it because we gather around the tv and watch something so beautiful and breathtaking and learn so much from it. I think you and Jim would love it if you haven't seen it yet. Go to www.discovery.com to see clips from it if you're interested.

Judy Wise said...

Me too! I love the reptiles. I grew up with them on the desert and think they are much prettier than diamonds plus they can move.

Thank you for the beautiful show.

LindaBudz said...

OK, this isn't about lizards, but I just had to post ... I just picked up a copy of Writer's Digest, opened it up and there was your picture! I knew it right away because I've seen your avatar a lot, at discomermaids and elsewhere. Anyway, just wanted to pop by and say congrats, very cool!

And then when I stop in, I see your post about the award nomination ... WOW! And congratulations!!!
And continued best wishes!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Looking at these photos makes me terribly, terribly hungry Laini! Why didn't you bring me some of these when you brought over the Vikadin this morning???
-Alexandra (can't log in!)

Anonymous said...

That tiny one on the fingertip is SO cute! I wonder if the the legless lizard knows he's a lizard, or if he thinks he's a snake...I think, I would think he was a snake, if I ran into him, which I hope I won't - because lizards I like, snakes I do not like to meet, when they're out and about.
Can you imagine being able to lick your own eyeball?

Kristy said...

Me loves the lizards. And snakes. And turtles. And I know the latter is not a reptile ;-)

If it was the least bit ethical, I'd have one -- or hundreds -- of each. Alas. I have pictures.

Kristy said...

Oh, and the last one? I'm pretty sure it's a glass lizard. Eyelids and external ear openings make it a lizard, not a snake.

Patry Francis said...

Now I just had to call Ted in to make him look, too. I'm especially fascinated by those lizard eyes. You have to wonder what goes on behind them.

Anonymous said...

Well, let me just say that I never saw a group of bloggers that are such good amateur biologists! You're all correct about the lizard vs. snake thing. Snakes evolved from lizards, and eventually became so specialized that scientists now give them their own name. But truly they are just one big group of legless lizards. And leglessness has evolved dozens of times within lizards!!! Check this out to see some ideas about the evolution of leglessness: http://tinyurl.com/26r5hj


Ciao!
Cyst

Jone said...

Totally cool. Working on the post about your visit at school. Will let you know when I post it.

Catalina said...

beautiful! I love lizards as well, so magical! great pictures! did you take some of them?

Diane Duda said...

My son just loved this post!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I love all those lizards!

Crafty Green Poet said...

What a wonderful selection - thanks for sharing! I lived in Malawi for a while, the geckos were wonderful, there were other lizards there too including the occasional giant monitor lizard.

lizardek said...

Yay, lizards! And yay for wonderment and awe :)

Catalina said...

I LOVE lizars! they are so beautiful and amazing! Great pictures! Thank you Laini

linda may said...

G'Day,
I love lizards, your pictures show some australian ones too. There is a blue tongue lizard, geckos and the eastern bearded dragon who live here and are commonly seen in my area. The blue tongue lizard eats all the snails and slugs from your garden so they are good to have around. Also the gorgeous thorny devil who is a desert lizard and lives in central australia. And goannas aka monitor lizards live all over australia and can grow very big too.
I have made a few pottery lizards but I don't know if there is anything actually living that resembles them or they are purely from my imagination.