Eastern Worm Snake
While on our structural geology field trip this week, my GMU students and I encountered an eastern worm snake, Carphophis amoenus amoenus. The little charmer at first reminded me of a boa, like the...
View Article3 bugs + 1 lizard
Yesterday, Lily and I embraced my first day of no-more-classes by taking a hike. We drove out to Massanutten Mountain and hiked up to Signal Knob, a ten-mile (roundtrip) jaunt with about 1500 feet of...
View ArticleGoSF5: (Wildlife interlude)
“GoSF” = Geology of San Francisco As I am sure you are aware, I’m taking this week to write up the three field trips I took last week to examine the geology of San Francisco and neighboring areas. My...
View ArticlePamukkale 4: Hierapolis
Atop the glorious pile of travertine that is Pamukkale (photos 1, 2, & 3), there is an ancient ruined city called Hierapolis. It was founded by the Romans in the second century BC, and was...
View ArticleLily’s pet gecko
My fiancée Lily teaches science at a local middle school, and she has a pet leopard gecko there. I went in this morning to give her students a talk on climate change, and used the opportunity to hang...
View ArticleWeekend macro bugs
“Did somebody say bugs?” …Yes, Mr. Lizard, it’s time for a photo gallery of the macro bugs I saw this past weekend. We got some caterpillars for you, some millipedes, and also a very cool moth....
View ArticleHorned lizard
Here’s a cute little feller that we spotted in the Green River Basin of Wyoming last week, whilst checking out the Green River Formation oil shales at the White Mountain escarpment, as well as adjacent...
View ArticleCoiled snake
Saw this fellow on Monday, coiled up next to an outcrop of Antietam Formation in Naked Creek, northwest of Elkton: It had flattened its head to make it very spade-shaped. The right eye was cloudy –...
View ArticleFence lizard
It wasn’t all rocks and games on the Neoacadian Inner Piedmont trip. I also saw a lizard:
View ArticleEstemmenosuchus
Slightly annotated photo of a Permian therapsid skull on display in the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta. Another photo of this same skull is here. This reptile needs an orthodontist.
View ArticleA tale of three iguanas
As noted last week, I spent the week spanning New Year’s Eve in the enchanted isles of the Galapagos. The previous week (over Christmas) my family and I were in coastal Ecuador. I saw a total of three...
View ArticleEasing of selective pressure on Opuntia cacti in the Galapagos Islands
As I mentioned yesterday, Galapagos land iguanas eat mainly the flesh and fruits of the Opuntia cacti that grow all over the dry lowlands of these islands. As with most other cacti, the Galapagos...
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