Incredible Lizards

About this book

Exploring Nature: Incredible Lizards helps you discover the astonishing world of chameleons, geckos, iguanas and more, with over 190 pictures. You can explore the extraordinary natural history of lizards. You can learn about their survival tactics in the wild, such as the toughened skin of the rough-scaled plated lizard and the bloodthirsty appetite of the Komodo dragon. You can see how some species regrow their tails after losing them to predators, while others change appearance to blend in with their surroundings..

Exploring Nature: Incredible Lizards is ideal for home or school use by 8- to 12-year-olds. Find out why lizards are more numerous and successful than any other group of reptiles and trace their evolution – from dinosaurs, pterosaurs and ichthyosaurs to the rich diversity of species in existence today. On the way, you will witness some amazing tactics for survival, such as how lizards' bodies and watertight skins work so that they can live on minimal amounts of food and water.

Meet the 'Jesus lizard' that walks on water, the glider that sails through the air from tree to tree, and the horned lizard of Texas that shoots blood from its eyes.

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Biography

Mark O'Shea is a herpetologist, television broadcaster, zoologist, author, photographer, lecturer and public speaker, and was the Consultant Curator of Reptiles at West Midland Safari Park in the UK for 33 years. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Linnean Society of London, and Explorers' Club of New York. He was awarded one of only eight Millennium Awards for Services to Exploration, by the British Chapter of the Explorers' Club in 2000 and an Honorary Doctor of Sciences degree, for services to herpetology, by the University of Wolverhampton in 2001. In 2015 Czech herpetologists voted Mark "Snakeman of the Year". He became Professor of Herpetology at the University of Wolverhampton in September 2018 and was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to High Education, Zoology, Reptile Conservation and Snakebite Research.

His life has revolved around snakes for more than five decades and is an advocate for snake conservation. Between 1999 and 2003 Mark presented four seasons of the internationally acclaimed O'Shea's Big Adventure for Animal Planet, co-produced with the UK's Channel 4 as O'Shea's Dangerous Reptiles. He has now presented over forty documentaries including films for Discovery Channel, ITV, and the BBC. Mark has conducted herpetological fieldwork, or made films, on every continent except Antarctica. He has authored seven books, including A Book of Snakes: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species from around the World (2018) and Lizards of the World (2021), and is working on a slow burn revision of A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea.