Amazing Facts About Reptiles
There are more than 8,000 species of reptiles on the planet as of 2010 and they inhabit every continent except Antarctica. Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrates and their history dates back 300 million years. The predecessors of modern reptiles include the dinosaurs that dominated the planet for 160 million years before becoming extinct 70 million years ago. Modern reptiles may not be as big or as dominant as their now-extinct cousins, but they are amazing creatures.
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Snakes
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Many people suffer from ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes, but two-thirds of all snakes are non-venomous and four times as many people die each year from wasp and bee stings than from snake bites. In fact, the most deadly venom is actually found on the gold poison arrow frog. One snake that is feared is the rattlesnake. Research has shown it can bite for up to an hour after its death. Scientists think that it has infra-red sensors that remain active for a short period. The largest snake in the world is the anaconda, capable of swallowing a whole goat. It is also one of the few snakes to give birth to live young.
Crocodiles and Alligators
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Crocodiles eat stones,as well as meat. They swallow the rocks, which stay in their stomachs and help them grind and digest their food. The stones may also help them with their buoyancy, providing extra weight to help them sink deeper in the water. Crocodiles and alligators are prone to losing their teeth, but they grow new ones to replace any that fall out. A crocodile can replace its teeth more than 40 times over the course of its lifetime.
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Chameleons
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Chameleons are known for the ability to change the color of their bodies in order to match their surroundings. However, these color changes can also be prompted by light, temperature and emotion. They are also able to move each eye independent from the other, so they can look in two directions at once. According to "Reptile Expert", they are the only animal in the world with this ability. Chameleons also have tongues that are capable of stretching three times the length of their bodies. They catapult their tongue out of their mouths and ensnare insects on its sticky tip.
Komodo Dragon
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The Komodo dragon is the biggest lizard on Earth and lives only in Indonesia. It can reach a length of 10 feet from nose to tail. They can also run at up to 13 miles an hour, which helps when chasing prey. Komodo dragons will ambush prey on their trails and chase them, biting at their legs. They then follow the injured animal until infection in the wounds causes the animal to die. They are the only lizards that hunt creatures bigger than themselves and will eat almost all of it, including bones and horns.
Other lizards
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One of the most fascinating lizards is the horned toad. Some horned toads, when they are angry and provoked, will shoot blood out from their eyes. The Basilisk lizard relies less on cunning to ward off predators. It sleeps at the very end of thin branches that overhang ponds and streams. If a predator, such as a snake, tries to climb along it, the extra weight causes the branch to bend and the lizard falls to safety into the water.
Galapagos tortoise
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"Lonesome George," a giant tortoise, is the rarest animal in the world. He is the last member of his species alive. Unique animals developed on each of the Galapagos islands because land-dwelling creatures could not travel between them to mate with other species. George was a member of the tortoise population on the island Pinta. However, by the late 1960s scientists noted that the population was dwindling and, by 1972, only George remained. Since then, he has lived in a zoo on another of the Galapagos islands, Santa Cruz, where conservationists are trying to mate him with a female tortoise of a very similar species.
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References
- Photo Credit reptile image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
