“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31
I thought this school post would be appropriate for this week to share with you considering that I have spent the week having baby lizards put very near my face!
Mellie says it is “baby lizard season” and she might not be wrong. She seems to be finding them everywhere in our yard. Every spare second she has, she is outside picking these babies up. I have to admit, the tiny tiny ones are cute but must we see every single one of them?
God’s world is full of school lessons to a point that I don’t have to worry if she is getting enough of an education. She is outside exploring her world and then she will come inside and look up information. I suspect living in New York will not prove any different.
So what ARE we learning about lizards this week?
In the world there are 4,675 species of lizards. In Florida alone, we have 68 of those species! The large majority of these species are not native to Florida but came as part of exotic pet trades. They liked Florida climate and so they thrived here.
They can be found in hot, dry scrubs or pine flatwoods. Given our side property is full of forest, I am not surprised that we have them everywhere here.
Lizards are important to our eco-system because they eat the bugs – yes even cockroaches – and are important prey to snakes. And yes, we have seen snakes here but I tend to give them a very wide berth.
The males, during mating season, are fun to watch as they dance and puff out this flap of skin under their snouts. It becomes reddish in color and I’m sure the females are duly impressed.
Baby lizards (of the common sort) are about an inch when hatched. This is making more and more sense to me now when I see her walking around with these tiny tiny lizards. I usually tell her that they are probably just newly born and she is the first giant they are seeing.
The explorations will continue here and expand as we move but what better education is my 10 year old having than to observe, research and then share with others all she has learned.
