14th August World Lizard Day

World Lizard Day is to make  people aware that there are 5600–6000 species of lizards. Wow! How many can you name? 

My young students will tell you about             

geckos

skinks

iguanas

chameleons

frillnecks

blue tongues

Komodo dragons

but there are many more with much less generic names.

Lizards are both predators and prey, making them critical to the ecosystem. They eat insects and rodents, while being food for birds. Lizards have been around for more than 250 million years. They typically live in deserts, forests, and rocky warm areas. The children find them in their backyards!

Lizards are rarely chosen for starring roles in picture books, and if they are they will probably be a chameleon because they look good for pictures and can do amazing things with camouflage.

Geckos are catching up...

I took one look at this book cover and it did not enthuse me, but then the book won many awards and I decided to share it with a Year 2 class while they were looking at Australia, deserts and mapping and I was pleasantly surprised just how interested the students were in the many Australian lizards mentioned and where they travelled in the book. We then went to look in other books and online to find out more about these lizards. The book is long and I think it could have done with a better editor, but still worth a look.

Another Australian book I have shared with classes that fascinates students is Dragons of the Galapagos by Bruce Whatley.

And a book that I also wish was still in print is Jesse by Tim Winton because often my students have a blue tongue lizard in their backyard and there isn't any other book that lets them read a story with a blue tongue.