Amazing Nature #111 - It's not a snake. It's a legless lizard

in #nature6 years ago

Hi Steemit family!

Today I bring you an animal that has really amazed me, if you think that reptiles are very strange, because you are right, in a past publication we saw the gecko that can clone itself, and other reptiles that can have really amazing aspects, but that a reptile does not have legs and is not a snake, this is really strange and fascinating at the same time. It's about the lizard without legs. Join me in discovering some of its main features.

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Although it is not the only species of a reptile without legs Slow worm that belongs to the family of Anguidae is part of that class of lizards whose evolutionary system completely eliminated the legs, this is largely due to their life spent in underground sites.

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But let's bring the magnifying glass a little closer to detail what the differences are between a lizard without legs and a snake.

The lizards without legs have mobile eyelids while the snakes have immobile eyelids, the great majority of the snakes are deaf by nature. While lizards have a moderately developed auditory canal, lizards without legs have difficulty moving around because they don't have ventral scales like snakes that move very well on any surface.

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Their scientific name is Anguis fragilis, they have several subfamily groups that as well as the solution has lost limbs in some of their evolutionary phases, in addition, it can be detached from its own tail like other lizards in order to escape from its natural predators.

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It can measure a maximum of 40 centimeters long, its scales are smooth and very shiny, its head is a little small and its neck can barely be distinguished, in its head you can see the hole that goes towards the tympanum, its mobile eyelids, and a perfectly forked tongue.

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In their earliest phase of life they present a brown colour with golden flashes and black belly, although this can vary depending on the habitat where it is found, speaking of the place they can be found in much of Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula, especially in places with abundant bushes, grasses, and open forests.

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Most reptiles prefer direct contact with the sun in order to warm up, while lightning prefers damp, dark places.

They can be grouped in a great number of individuals exceeding 100 specimens, which indicates a behavior of living in colonies, especially in the months of March to July dates on which this incredible lizard mate.

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In the Iberian Peninsula, the slow worm is active from the end of February until November, when hibernation begins, during which up to 100 individuals group together. It has eggs, but these hatch inside the female) and gives birth to between 2 and 22 offspring.

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Its diet is based on worms, larvae, snails, everything of size adjusted to the opening of its jaw, many people have contact with this species allowing it to live in gardens because it ingests large numbers of animals considered pests for certain types of crops.

It is amazing how a species can evolve and eliminate from its genes organs or parts that in the long term are not useful, even the human species has been modified and many parts that we had before are no longer present in the human body and others will disappear over time.

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Thank you for reading


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Quite informative. This is my first time of coming across anything like this.

It looks very much like a Snake 🐍

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oh my god!
its amazing! The truth is that he completely ignored this species.