Illuminati-R-Us

Might have to change my avatar.

Or not



http://rawforbeauty.com/blog/a-tiny-dragon-discovered-in-indonesia.html

Little fire breathing dragons.

So far they are selling them to tourists as cigarette lighters.

Very cool. The lizards in this country are pretty dull, and seldom seen.

Their tartans tend to blend into the foliage.

Could be that. After extensive research, I think they're wearing a Loch Garth tartan:



A Scottish lizard:

We have lizards all over the place where I live. Most of them are tiny, but some of them are quite large. Not quite Komodo Dragon large, but headed in that direction.

Мастер wrote:We have lizards all over the place where I live. Most of them are tiny, but some of them are quite large. Not quite Komodo Dragon large, but headed in that direction.

We've only got that fellow up there, who is small. We've also got slow worms, which I think are legless lizards (insert your own Scottish joke there), turtles, a venomous snake and (I think) a couple of harmless snakes too. Not much of a selection, really, and all seldom seen. I've seen two live snakes and one live lizard in all of my years out and about in the Scottish outdoors.

In terms of the squamata order, the only indigenous lizards in New Zealand are geckos and skinks. Here some representative images:

Three Kings Island Skink


Northern Brown Skink


Stiped Skink


Egg Laying Skink


Otago Skink


Robust Skink


Northland Green Gecko


Forest Gecko


Nelson Green Gecko


Gold Stripe Gecko


Duvaucel's Gecko


Of course there also this (but its Rhynchocephalia order)

What kind of sauce would you use on those?

tubeswell wrote:In terms of the squamata order, the only indigenous lizards in New Zealand are geckos and skinks.

Very cool. We only have Cullen Skink, but that's soup. Very nice soup.

That Loch Garth tartan looks like it would work better for the little guys than the McLeod.

(The yellow one, anyway)

Lianachan wrote: I've seen two live snakes and one live lizard in all of my years out and about in the Scottish outdoors.

The first time I came accross a snake it was in the middle of a path in woodland. Rather than leave a harmless snake to freak people out I used a stick and flicked it into the bushes. I was about 10 yards further on before I realised I was in North America and I had no idea what kind of snake it was and whether it was poisonous or not . . .

I have never seen a snake in all my years of hillwalking in Scotland. The above in Connecticut and twice in Spain.

I've seen a live adder in Ardnamurchan, and another in Sutherland. In addition, I've seen their shed skins in Lochaber, Caithness, and Ross-shire. If you head south-west into the hills behind that there city you live in (houses on top of houses? an abomination), they live there too. You're unlikely to see one on a path, or in woodland, but they should be safe enough to flick into the bushes with a stick. Safer than a random, unidentified USA snake, anyway. The lizard was last year, in a friend's garden near Beauly, and was very cool indeed.

If you fancy doing any hill walking up here, give me a shout! I promise not to lengthily explain any archaeology we pass.

We have cobras here, although I have yet to see one.

Scores of garter snakes, a handful of prairie rattlers, and the odd racer and bullsnake where I grew up (south central SD). I haven't seen a snake or lizard since moving to the southeastern part of the state - even in the parks!

Odd, I just had a mental image of a little U-Haul crossing the prairie with the snake family. A little bag of Mouse-E-Treats for the kids. Little snake GPS set for Sioux Falls.

Lianachan wrote:I've seen a live adder in Ardnamurchan, and another in Sutherland. In addition, I've seen their shed skins in Lochaber, Caithness, and Ross-shire. If you head south-west into the hills behind that there city you live in (houses on top of houses? an abomination), they live there too. You're unlikely to see one on a path, or in woodland, but they should be safe enough to flick into the bushes with a stick. Safer than a random, unidentified USA snake, anyway. The lizard was last year, in a friend's garden near Beauly, and was very cool indeed.

If you fancy doing any hill walking up here, give me a shout! I promise not to lengthily explain any archaeology we pass.

Since posting this a few years ago, I've seen several lizards in the hills. Also, while surveying a cleared settlement near Fort William last summer, I saw my first slow worm. This cute little guy.

What a beauty. They aren't dangerous, are they?

Arneb wrote:What a beauty. They aren't dangerous, are they?

I suppose if you're careless you could choke on one, but otherwise no. This guy was just lying like that in the sun, and paid us no mind. Surprising, as I thought they were supposed to very shy.