The link between lizards, environment
I read with some amusement the article in the Daily Herald on May 14 regarding the threat to the world's population of lizards due to global warming. According to scientists who study them, lizards are going extinct in many places because of rising temperatures. Being coldblooded, they need to soak up heat from the sun in order to get going.
The scientists claim that because it is getting too hot due to global warming, lizards have to retreat out of the sun and into the shade, and then they can't hunt for food. This in turn affects reproduction. The research indicates that if the world continues to heat up at current rates, 20 percent of the world's population of all lizard species will go extinct by 2080.
Well, the current rate of warming is negligible, as even the most zealous global warming advocates will have to admit. I believe we will have to find some other reason why lizards are getting lax about reproducing.
I'm tempted to counter the global warming scare with a global cooling scare. Is it possible that the lizards are falling behind in their reproductive duties because they are not getting enough heat?
Fred Wisniewski
Mount Prospect