Comment

May 16, 2012
Children are inherently interested in animals, and some of the most fascinating for children are the many types of lizards found around the world. Nic Bishop’s book, full of eye-catching, close-up photography and captivating detail, reveals that lizards can be some of the trickiest, sneakiest animals in the world. The chameleon, for example, has the ability to change colour in order to blend in with its surroundings and hide. This extraordinary little creature also has eyes that can magnify and a sticky tongue that stretches almost 30 centimetres to grab its prey. Some types of geckos also use camouflage. Coloured exactly like the leaves, twigs or bark on which they climb and sleep, they are invisible to would-be predators. The frilled lizard uses trickery in a different way: it sports a lar.ge ruffle of skin around its head that pops open like an umbrella to startle nearby predators. Lizards come in many shapes and sizes. The diminutive dwarf gecko is so light that it can be caught in a spider’s web. On the other hand, the Komodo dragon – the world’s biggest lizard and largest venomous animal – is sizeable enough to eat deer, goats and pigs. Surprisingly, some lizards are able to fly. The tiny Flying dragon of Southeast Asia travels between trees by gliding, using flaps of skin which act like wings. To avoid predators, flying dragons never land on the ground except to lay their eggs. Many lizards can swim - another way in which they can evade predators. In fact, some lizards can stay underwater for an hour. Author Nic Bishop writes/ that some lizards are ultimate survivors. The gila lizard, for instance, can stay alive underground for several years in a hibernating state when the desert becomes too dry, emerging only when an adequate amount of rain has fallen. The fascinating photographs and detail in this book about the amazing world of lizards will definitely entice, draw in and keep the interest of young readers. An added plus is the author-photographer’s explanation at the end of the book of the methods in which various types of lizards were photographed, with a link to further details.