Rear cover notes: "Yes, there really are dragons! This book tells you all about REAL dragons - the monitor lizards - and how to care for them, identify them, breed them...and obtain them. It also addresses the other giant (over 3 feet in length) lizards of Africa, South and Central America, and other parts of the world including Australia and New Guinea. Every reptile keeper is fascinated by dinosaurs, and there is no doubt that the monitors, iguanas, and tegus are the closest modern dinosaur look-alikes. The big lizards make fascinating pets for the hobbyist with room and patience, but even the beginner keeping a Green Iguana for the first time will discover here all the tricks of successful lizard care. in fact, the special section on iguanas is designed to aid the beginner. The author is an expert on monitor lizards and is familiar with them both as pets and in the wild, with more than 20 years' experience in their care."
I have never met a lizard I didn't like. A very few seemed to actively dislike me, or so I inferred when they bit me. But all those bites were minor things of no consequence. On the other hand, I have never been bitten by a snake, which I think is quite an accomplishment because I've been working with reptiles since 1958. To this day I am amazed by people who brag -- brag! -- about how many times they've "done been bit" by venomous snakes. Can you imagine the equivalent claim by a person in a different activity: "I done crashed my car 15 times," or "I done took out the wrong kidney 12 times," or even "I done caught my foot in the lawnmower... well, once."
You've got to give reptiles a lot of credit. After all they've been here hundreds of times longer than us, and despite everything we've done to the natural world, they are still here. They have survived the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, the moving of the continents, worldwide volcanoes, extremes in global temperature, and the Nixon administration. I wonder if, someday, the human record will be nearly as impressive...
