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The masters of mimicry and the camouflage ingenuity.
Have you ever played mimics? If so, you know it’s a game in which you have to imitate something or someone almost perfectly. And what if I tell you that, as good as you may be, there are reptiles that beat you by a mile? Yes, it’s true! Some of these fantastic animals have valuable characteristics that allow them to remain and survive in their environment. In fact, that is their daily struggle – to live another day – it is a constant fight for survival. For that reason, they have to be resourceful and very, very peculiar! By the way… have you ever heard of coral snakes? Real coral snakes and false coral snakes? Wait, how so? Well, the false coral snakes have created a very interesting manoeuvre, they have
Reptiles… Are these animals from the past or do they still have a future?
Discussing this subject could take forever, since it is very vast. To tell you the truth, this story began about 300-350 million years ago, when the first reptiles appeared on earth. Today, some of these have disappeared, such as the dinosaurs. Others, like the Sphénodons, still exist in New Zealand, for over 200 million years.
And today, what about the reptiles?
With 9000 species scattered around the world, one might think that reptiles are doing very well and still have good days ahead. Unfortunately, the truth is far from being so beautiful. A large international study estimates that about 20% of all reptile species are currently threatened with extinction, according to IUCN’s conservation status! The study also estimates that 30% of freshwater reptiles are on the verge
Do you know what sexual dimorphism is?
When you see an image of an adult African lion and a lioness, you can tell right away who the male is and who the female is, right? You do this almost immediately because the morphological characteristics that are observed leave no doubt as to which is which.
Now, doing this exercise with other animals: the reptiles. If you look at a male iguana and a female iguana, both adults, even without knowing how to tell the male from the female, you can point out differentiating characteristics that you see with the naked eye. Do you want a tip? The robust males of this species have necklaces, dorsal ridges, and bright colours! We call sexual dimorphism when you can see physical differences in animals of the same species in a preliminary
Reptiles: the survivors
These extraordinary animals come from the time of the famous dinosaurs! What do I mean? Many millions of years ago, these animals were already colonizing the planet Earth, and have evolved in several directions until the reptiles we know today. Did you know that there are real living fossils in this class? Which means that there are examples that exist today, with no current close kinship, which represent groups that were once quite abundant. Very interesting, right? After all, how could these animals have prevailed over time? What makes them such interesting animals?
Reptiles are provided with fascinating colours, and they are ectothermic, meaning, if they need to warm up they use the sun as a source, or otherwise a shade to cool their bodies, as opposed to mammals