Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Green Basilisk

My roommates and I actually went out last night, we tried to go to a piano/sports/fondue bar in desolate mostly empty mall for a surreal experience, but it was actually quite crowded. They had some sort of special lounge singer event. We ended up going to a nearby bar and playing "Lunch Money" for a few hours.

In South and Central America there is a mid-sized lizard that can run on the water's surface, this would be the green basilisk (Basiliscus plumifrons). They run on the water by churning their legs quickly and creating a pocket of air. They are also excellent swimmers and can remain underwater for around a half an hour. The males tend to have much more impressive crests then the females these crests are actually supported bony projections. They are not uncommon as pets though they are not known to be extremely friendly and have difficult care requirements. I remember we got one in when I worked at the pet store and we had a bit of difficulty getting the humidity right and I think he bit me, I've been bitten by so many lizards it is hard to keep track. I think he was somewhere between being bitten by a spiny iguana and a fairly pissed off leopard gecko. I'm generally fairly nice to reptiles and try not to scare them but between working at the vet and receiving new lizards in at the pet store I've run into a lot of angry reptiles. I've yet to gain any lizard-based super powers from any of them disappointingly.

Basilisk runs on top of the water video

Nice picture of a basilisk running on the water

1 comment:

  1. Surprised you guys didn't go to Greg's party instead - I know Nick did. Sorry to hear about the basement, btw. Sounds dreadful, and I hope your power tools survive!!

    ReplyDelete