Lizards can’t seal their lips and CAn never drink milk, but my grandfather told me that leguaans wrap their tails around cows’ legs and suck out all their milk. It was believed that if a gecko walked across your face while you were sleeping you’d contract leprosy. Many facts and fables about lizards and other reptiles were passed down through generations by word of mouth. Some were true. One such fact is that the variety of reptiles in Southern Africa is astonishing, and of the almost 500 known species, many are endemic. Today a new reptile species is discovered every 44 days. But, sadly, apart from being listed and described by museums, very little is known about most of them.
Only a handful of our reptiles, like the crocodile, have been studied in any detail, almost exclusively by overseas scientists. They’re largely ignored by conservation authorities. Apart from sea turtles only three other reptiles are protected – one tortoise, one snake and one lizard. Even many conservation-conscious field sportspeople cold shoulder them and to many farmers they mean nothing. Yet they represent an important part of our natural heritage. At the moment about 300 different lizard species are recognised, making them the largest reptile group on the sub-continent, but more myths and misconceptions exist about them than any other group of animals. C hinese culture is steeped in dragon devotion. European folklore and myths about huge flying dragons, breathing fire and preying on humans, persisted for centuries and are kept alive by Hollywood. In a recent movie Sean Connery played a dragon whose face was modeled after the South African giant girdled lizard, or sungazer.
However, the only dragons that have taken to the air are the tiny agama-like lizards of the genus Draco, from the tropical forests of the Philippines, which can glide on wing-like structures formed by elongated ribs. The only lizard that has won the name “dragon”, whose breath may be foul but still far from a flame, lives on the island of Komodo. S ome people still regard lizards as poisonous, despite the fact that only two species in the world have venom. In reality they’re a very large group of absolutely harmless, extremely beneficial and largely defenceless little animals. Many lizards are very beautiful and studying them can be a fascinating hobby. But it’s not as easy as birdwatching and has never had the same following.
They don’t come to you – you have to go out searching for them. Study the ecosystem as a whole We needn’t go to outer space to find out how our universe works. Focusing on the study of large animals won’t provide the answers. Even King Solomon realised we can gain wisdom from the ants. To understand the environment on which we all depend, we need to know more than just the names of small creatures. There’s a wealth of knowledge waiting to be discovered by young scientists prepared to study their ecology as a whole. One of my first tasks after being appointed herpetologist for Nature Conservation had to do with the little sungazer. Its plight led me to recommend that much more effort be put into conserving our grasslands, of which not 1ha had been set aside as a national park. It was never done and 40 years later this most fertile habitat is on the verge of being totally wrecked.
Hundreds of grassland hillsides and valleys are either being smothered by Sappi’s exotic pine trees or ripped apart by open-cast mines that spew toxic acid into thousands of streams and wetlands, from Baberspan to Chrissiesmeer, to kill off all those little lives. V ast scars of human habitation creep across the grassland. Our insatiable thirst for energy can’t be quenched by contaminated groundwater, which we pump using pumps run on smog-generating electricity instead of the windmills that used to run for free on the gentle Highveld wind. T oday the little sungazer is a highly protected species, but it’s in vain when its entire grassland habitat should be on the endangered list. When will we ever learn? – Abré J Steyn (083 235 4822 or e-mail [email protected].) |fw
