【Reptile】(III) Lizard, Did dinosaurs really extinct?

来源: 2024-03-23 14:46:02 [博客] [旧帖] [给我悄悄话] 本文已被阅读:
               Crocodilians are very ancient species. The earliest crocodilian, meanwhile, evolved around 95 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period, coexisted  with dinosaurs. Their appearance always made me relating them to some low to the ground water-dwelling type dinosaurs.  After getting into the lizards' world, at macro scale, seem to me they are the dinosaurs survived from the mass extinction.  Could some survive to date but appear in a humble form - a great variety of lizards? Do you know that snakes are evolved from lizards?  Some snake species still have traces of not completely degraded legs. Most of the lizards have short and round tongues. Chameleons have elongated, extrudable tongues yet not forked. The lizards with a serpent-like forked tongue are the carnivorous ones of a larger size in family Varanidae (Monitors, goannas, Komodo dragon) and Teiidae (Tegus, whiptails, caiman lizards).

1.  Black Roughneck MonitorP1010142

2. Black Roughneck Monitor
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3. some other monitor is basking, I lost record of its name.
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4. Mali Uromastyx 30-46 cm. this guy just looks like a dinosaur to me despite its size
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5.
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6. Argentine black and white tegu 0.7-1. 2 m
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7.
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8. Black-throated monitor, 1.2-1.8m up to 2.1m
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9.
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10.
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11. Quince monitor, 1.5m
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12. Mertens' water monitor, 1.82m, a strong swimmer, and seldom far from water. It is often seen basking on midstream rocks and logs, and on branches overhanging.
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13. Pilbara rock monitor, 30-45cm
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14.
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15. Common basilisk, 76 cm
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16. Central bearded dragon lives up to its name: Like a dragon, it's equipped with armor of spiny reptilian scales, which include a “beard” of spikes under its chin that puffs up depending on its mood. 38-61 cm
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17.
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18. Asian water monitor. 2-2.5m 22.5kg, up to 3.2m, 45kg, related to Komodo dragon, often mistaken for them. Asian water monitor lizards do secrete venom, however, it is not lethally dangerous or fatal to humans while Komodo dragon bites can be fatal to humans without immediate treatment.
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19. Nile monitor,  is Africa's longest lizard, 1.2-1.8 m
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20. Nile monitor
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21. Ctenosaura, A.K.A  spinytail  iguana 12.5 cm-1 m
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22.
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23. Green iguna, 1.2 - 2 m, is a large lizard and is probably the largest species in the iguana family
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24. .Not very green though, it is still a Green igunaP1010142

25. zoom
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26. ZOOM, this is a true macro shot with a macro lens, lighting is a challenge for macro photograthy, at high ISO 6400, image quality is compromised
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