h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Common Lizard (UK) - A5652001
Author: Emmily~ (Ace/Guru/Scout/Human ) ~ h2g2 Pet Adoption Agency - A5729042 - U190758

A compact entry on lizards. All comments welcome.

Emmily

Neat one, Emmily.

You'll probably need to add that it's the only reptile native to Ireland

Should be 'life' in the last sentence.

Cheers Pinniped, both points sorted

Emmily

Better than a finger in the chili, I guess.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/844089.stm

You could have an extra Header (before 'Habitat) called 'Geographical Distribution'.

It is widely distr. throughout GB and Ireland, and ranhges from the Pyrenees and Alps to the White Sea and eastwards to coast of Asia.


It is only active during the spring and summer from March to Sept.

Birds of prey include the kestrel (which I Tthink might be more common than owls, which you mention). The fox is also a predator, also domestic cat (if I recall, there's a link here).

Under 'Defense', the broken off tail continues to twitch for a while, thus confusing the enemy and giving liz. time to escape. The tail regrows within 8 months.

Cheers BigAl

All points sorted, I've left out the fox and cat for now, will try to find more info.

Emmily

Hi, Emmily!

I really like this entry--it's clear and comprehensive without being too long.

A couple of points:

You refer quite a few times to the lizards' behaviour depending on temperature, but you don't refer to why. I think it would be worth making a short mention of how reptiles can't maintain a constant body temperature themselves, and depend on outside factors to keep them warm enough to be active. (I know that "cold-blooded" is regarded as an old-fashioned simplification, but most people still use it.)

You say "...The lizard’s main predators (apart from man, who keep building on every bit of green land available) are:..." While people may be the worst threat to lizard numbers, that doesn't make us predators of the lizard--I think in fact that lizards are generally considered very hard to catch, and I've never heard of anyone in the UK eating them.


Azara

Cheers Azara

"(apart from man, who keep building on every bit of green land available)"

I knew I couldn't leave that in. Writing this reminded me that about 30 years ago, after my family moved from an area where there was slow worms and lizards (and adders) almost on our door step, to an area which my dad called a 'concrete jungle', I was delighted to find lizards on a piece of waste ground, just a few mins walk from our house, them the council (I think) built houses on that piece of land and I've not seen a (wild) lizard anywere since.

Yes, lizards are hard to catch, I caught a few in my younger days, never ate any, just observed them for a while, then let them go.

I'll deal with both your points soon.

Emmily

Ref lack of lizards in urban environments...

Mrs RBA and I went to Bergerac (France) for our holiday this summer. We were fascinated to see lizards scuttling up and down the walls of the hotel - so, I don't know to what extent urbanisation has an impact on lizard population

Just did a quick search on lizard/urbanisation and found this:


'Predation by cats as a secondary effect of urbanisation. ... ' (Ref our previous convo. about s

Ok BigAl, I'll deal with your points soon too, probably over the weekend. I just don't want a vision of a cat torturing a lizard in my mind at the moment.

Just in case anyone's not sure about the type of lizard this entry is about, here's link to a picture of a couple.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andy.holt/digiscope/commonlizard/liz2.htm


Emmily

Updated and included Azara's and BigAl's points. Thank You

Emmily

I like the way you re-phrase the info you're given

They are also in danger from foxes, and where they are prevalent in urban areas from cats. > They are also in danger from foxes and, where they are prevalent in urban areas, from cats. (i.e. insert an extra comma and nmove t5he existing one

Cheers BigAl, sorted

Everyone has their own style of writing, mine, I think is 'simple' if I used other people's quotes without changing them, I think the Entry would read a bit odd.

Emmily

Is this still here? Good grief!

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

for Emmily!

Azara

*slurps the * all

Emmily