 |
| green anole, appearing gray, climbing down fencepost |
 |
| same anole, 2 minutes later |
Authors' Note: 'Leapin' Lizards' was a classic idiom used to express surprise, long before it was suspected that birds had evolved from reptiles!
Authors' Note:
ophidiophobia: an extreme or incapacitating fear of snakes
herpetophobia: a similar anxiety disorder extending to all reptiles
The reptilian suborder Serpentes was previously known as Ophidia, a term derived from ophis, Greek for 'snake'.
Authors' Note: With four regional subspecies, the painted turtle, Chrysemus picta, has a range covering almost the entire United States and a part of Canada; it is North America's most common turtle.
The verse's tale, based on a recent experience by the author dealt with an attractive female belonging to the eastern subspecies, although her accent was definitely southern.
 |
| midland painted turtle (in Ontario), scurrying home |
Authors' Note: Most commonly, we think of asymptomatic carriers as humans who can transmit a microbial infection, but have no symptoms themselves; such diseases as typhoid and salmonellosis are well-known to be transmitted by such carriers.
Similarly, pets may harbor organisms that cause human disease, although the animals themselves don't become ill. Salmonella bacteria are commonly found on the skins of certain lizards and most turtles. The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta), a reptile native to the US, has attained notoriety in this regard; as children's pets they are cute, easy to care for, and inexpensive. Combined with their penchant for taking over ponds from native turtles, these traits underlie their status as an invasive species whose sale is now banned in many countries around the globe.
Similarly, pets may harbor organisms that cause human disease, although the animals themselves don't become ill. Salmonella bacteria are commonly found on the skins of certain lizards and most turtles. The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta), a reptile native to the US, has attained notoriety in this regard; as children's pets they are cute, easy to care for, and inexpensive. Combined with their penchant for taking over ponds from native turtles, these traits underlie their status as an invasive species whose sale is now banned in many countries around the globe.
DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS:
To resume daily titillations on our blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2022 there are 1000 entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)
No comments:
Post a Comment