The Green Momba
Basilisks
Giant Pythons
Curious Chameleons. Just some of the many live
lizards and snakes crawling around the American
Museum of Natural History's returning exhibit.
Curators have assembled more than sixty life
creatures including the spiny eastern water dragon
whose unique jaw structure separates it from
the pack. "Their teeth are fused to the lower jaw...
and they...
when they bite it's like pinking shears
so they actually slice...
It's a precision bite, so they can bite
through things very very well." An enormous
rhinoceros iguana
often basks in its enclosure's warmth and is already feeling
right at home. "In this large and enclosure he really
liked it and he did something he's probably
never done in his entire life in captivity...
which is he set up a territory.
So, now if you open up that door he actually
takes great umbrage at people coming
in there with him, but he does well. He's
a happy guy."
The water monitor
bearing its saber-like teeth. "Remarkable animals.
They're hunting machines.
They're like sight-hounds. They actually see what
they're working on.
but they're also really good at chemoreception,
so they move into the water. They eat on land.
They can take things out of the
water. Just remarkable." Easily hidden
the gabon viper proves a highly venomous snake.
"Fangs an inch long, over an inch long.
Can inject like a fluid ounce of venom.
You don't ever want to be bit by one of these things."
Perhaps the most unique lizard in this collection
is the veiled chameleon,
sporting 3D like vision. "When you see them,
when they're hunting, those eyes...
both those turrets will come around
and then they'll get binocular vision on whatever
they're going to shoot for tongue out at so they can
actually see in 3D. All of these fascinating
reptiles are on display in Lizards & Snakes
Alive!
at the American Museum of Natural History
Come discover all that this live exhibit
has to offer. "The central thing about this
exhibition
is that not only will you learn a lot about
the evolution of squamates, you'll learn a lot
about the diversity.