World’s Too Hot For Lizards To Handle

May 14th, 2010 - 6:58 pm ICT by GD  

By Madhuri Dey
heatMay 14, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Global warming is getting all the more alarming by the day, and now not only the humans, but also the cold-blooded lizards are feeling the heat, literally. Scientists have reported that some specific kinds of lizards are facing the threat of extinction in the face of the rapidly increasing global temperature. This alarming prospect has been presented by a team led by the researchers of the Ohio University and the University of California. The prospect first presented itself when the scientists noticed that some species of the lizards were dying off at an alarming rate in places like Madagascar, France and Mexico.

According to the scientists, the species of lizards that are facing the threat of extinction are those which find it difficult to adjust to the increasing temperatures. Among these species are the skinks, iguanas, and geckos. However, lizards are not the only ones that are getting affected by the increasing temperatures. Other than these, there are also some kinds of snakes. Scientists stress that the rate at which the lizards are dying off, it may well result in their absolute extinction from the face of the earth in a few decades, unless some decisive measures are taken to check it.

The scientists claim that there might be two reasons that these species of the lizards and snakes are gradually disappearing. On one hand, it might be because their lifestyles are changing due to the increasing heat. Due to the temperatures, many of them are possibly being forced to spend a lot of time in shelter, not being able to look for food, leading to slow starvation. Besides, it is also probably affecting their reproductive systems adversely.

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