Curiosity...or Love is in the Air!

Sometimes curiosity can be a good thing. None of the marvels of science would have ever been achieved had it not been for some curious soul who wondered just how something worked, how it could work better or why that something worked in the first place! But then...sometimes too much curiosity can, well, be a bit detrimental. Remember the old adage...Curiosity killed the cat! That said, it was not the cat that was curious nor was it the cat that received the ruinous end.

I was out today when a bright green lizard caught my eye. Normally, I would have passed the lizard by without too much notice except this lizard looked a mite different than most. I took a second glance and realized that this anole had recently lost its tail. This is a defensive or evasive method that most lizards possess. If something threatens them, they can drop off the end of their tail as an decoy. Once whatever was after them is distracted by the still-wiggling tail, they can make a hasty escape. I have a feeling that this threatening predator was Ms. Put, our cat. She is famous for catching every lizard within this county! Ok..so that is not true..but she does catch an awful lot of the lizards in our yard! Undoubtedly when she seized him, the lizard dropped its tail and most likely retreated under a pile of brush.

I decided that this lizard should have its picture made as it had endured a terrible loss but was still fighting! He was a hero! I carefully edged close. I did not want to traumatize the poor rascal any more than he had already been so I tried to be as easy as I could. The lizard did not seem to be afraid of me at all and seemed quite interested in the camera. In fact, I could go as far as saying, he seemed quite smitten with my camera. Once I took a couple of pictures, I backed off a bit and sat on a log. The lizard..still interested in the camera, edge forward. I took another photo..this time with the flash. He was still not one bit worried and actually scooted toward the camera with surprising speed.

I laid the camera on Mark's boat trailer and watched in amazement as the lizard followed. There he extended his bright red dewlap and bobbed his head up and down..Uh Oh..this lizard REALLY liked my camera! That is a sign of courtship with lizards! I took one more picture and removed the camera..the lizard tried to follow! Oh, no! No! Mr. Lizard...you cannot have my camera!!!! Poor broken-hearted, bob-tailed lizard!