Monsters abound
We're talking about actual reptiles, not you, Jeffrey Epstein
Here in Florida, we’re surrounded by monsters.
(And for our purposes today we’re talking about the four-legged kind, not the Jeffrey Epsteins, the state legislature, nor the denizens of Florida State Prison in Raiford.)
Some days here in the Sunshine State it can feel like we’re living in a real-life Jurassic Park—from pythons and alligators to what seems like an endless variety of lizards of all sizes and colors.
Some of these reptiles are tiny and skittery, like those cute anoles racing across our sidewalks and driveways, to the enormous—up to four-feet long—green iguanas.
If you’re like me, you may have wondered: Just how many varieties of lizards do we have living among us, and which ones, if any, are threatening?
So, a big shout out to Bill Kearney of the South Florida Sun Sentinel for his excellent article this week guiding us through this prehistoric reptilian maze.
He writes:
Florida can feel like an open-air reptile zoo. The state is home to dozens of nonnative lizard species, most of which are bigger, faster and stronger than native lizards. The reptiles range from 4-inch Cuban brown anoles to nuisance green iguanas to imposing 5-foot predators such as the Nile monitor.
Of course, a wide variety of lizards and other reptiles can be found across North America. According to the never wrong internet, there are more than 155 species of lizards, alone, around the continent.
Curious about all those other reptiles including turtles and snakes?
Check out this article for more.
As a brief aside, among the many rewards of writing this newsletter are the interesting bits of trivia I pick up along the way.
For instance, were I not researching reptiles today, I never would have discovered there’s such a thing as a Chicken Turtle.
I’ve just read the headline, so I’ve yet to discover how a turtle and a chicken could mate, but nature is wondrous, right? Anyway, absent any actual facts, here’s what it might look like. Or not.
Best lizard joke ever
Knowing that I was writing about our lizard friends, my wife, Sandy, told me this fabulous joke she ran across online:
Two guys were standing around in their front yards and one turns to the other and says, “Hey, check out that funny lizard over there looking around on his two hind legs.”
To which the other guy replies:
“That’s not a lizard. It’s a stand-up chameleon.”
Update from my monthly newsletter
Today is June 11 and it is International Lynx Day. A lynx is a kind of wildcat found mostly in northern and mountainous regions. The Canada lynx is North America’s most common type. You won’t see them down here anytime soon. Canada lynxes are boycotting the U.S. because of Trump’s suggestion he wants to annex their country.
J.C. Bruce is a journalist and author of The Strange Files series of mysterious novels (available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, other online booksellers, and at selected libraries). He also writes a monthly newsletter designed to make you the smartest person in the room—or the Zoom—of which this is an update. Check out his website at www.jcbruce.com.
TROPIC PRESS, publisher of The Strange Files series of mysterious adventures, is pleased to also be the official publisher of J.C. Bruce’s new novella, Scribbles From Space.
