Who You Calling Reptilian?
by Belinda Greb
Title
Who You Calling Reptilian?
Artist
Belinda Greb
Medium
Photograph - Photography, Photographic Art, Digital Art
Description
Who You Calling Reptilian?
This is a Western Fence Lizard seen in Smith Rock State Park. It is also known as blue belly as the ventral abdomen of the adult lizards are blue, like the patches they have on their throats. The blue is faded or absent in females or juveniles. One really interesting fact about this species is that "Lyme Disease is lower in areas where the lizards occur. When ticks carrying Lyme disease feed on these lizards' blood (which they commonly do, especially around their ears), a protein in the lizard's blood kills the bacterium in the tick that causes Lyme disease. The infection inside the ticks' gut is therefore cleared and the tick no longer carries Lyme disease." (Wikipedia - Lane, R. S.; Mun, J.; Eisen, L.; Eisen, R. J. (2006). "Refractoriness of the Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) to the Lyme Disease Group Spirochete Borrelia bissettii". Journal of Parasitology. 92 (4): 691–696. doi:10.1645/GE-738R1.1) a Texture has been added to the background.
Copyrighted - Belinda Greb
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Nature, animals, beauty have been a source of nourishment throughout my life. Photography allows me to capture, interpret, and share that world of wonder I see about me, and sometimes use what I capture as an inspiration to create something new, by incorporating other exposures, textures or brushwork.
Uploaded
May 20th, 2018
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