Monday, November 1, 2010

Kitchen wild life

According to a source on the Internet South Africa is home to more than 200 lizard species, making it the richest country for lizard diversity in continental Africa. Many of these lizard are commonly seen here, some even living inside houses like the common house gecko. These poor fellas, of which I have plenty in and around my house, usually get crushed between doors and other objects where they usually sit hidden during the day while waiting for evening to fall so that they can come out an prey.

Another type of lizard is the rock lizard, or "akkedis" as it is commonly known in South Africa. They usually stay outdoors where they can bask in the sun all day. Cold blooded and very shy they make a quick getaway when humans approach them. They also loose their tails when in dangerous situations hoping that their enemy will get distracted by a wiggling tail. You hardly ever find them inside houses, unless they got lost, but we have one that seems to have moved in permanently. I don't know how he/she survives the cold kitchen floor, but it seems like the lizard is very happy living under the dishwasher, coming out even while we are in the kitchen. Something that is very strange for these kinds of lizard to do. The lizard, which does not have a name yet, even allowed me this morning to take a picture of him/her. Maybe the cold kitchen floor does not allow him/her to move fast, but it seems like he/she is very happy with his/her new home. Judging by the broken tip of his/her tail, I guess it is safer inside the house than outside.

All I need to do now is to find out if it is male or female and then give him/her a name...

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