"Learn Your Lizards" Guided Tours
July 11, August 8, September

        Don't miss this popular tour -- a favorite with kids, or anyone who enjoys Arizona's charismatic little reptile species. July 11 our special guest tour guide is Casa Grande ecologist and reptile enthusiast "Wild Man Phil" Rakoci (seen at right in a photo by Patsy Akers) leading our walk, along with University of Arizona Herpetologist Phil Rosen. "Wild Man Phil" returns by popular demand August 8, then Abi King from the Arizona Game and Fish Department leads the tours September 6 and again September 12. Check this page again in July and August to see if MCC Professor Andy Baldwin is on the docket as an additional tour guide -- or if Arizona Game and Fish Department's Christina Akins will join us.

        Last summer was a great season for colorful Collared Lizards! guided lizard walks, and he managed to safely catch and release the collared lizard shown here. Patsy Akers got the colorful closeup below here at the Arboretum. Lizard Walk tours areparticularly popular with kids, so make sure to invite yours - or bring along grandkids, nieces and nephews -- but please remind them not to capture or harass the Arboretum's lizards. Volunteers are allowed to safely catch-and-release them on our tours in order to help educate visitors, but the speedy little critters prefer to be left alone.

        Hundreds of Arizonans have attended these popular walks -- and on recent outings we were rewarded with a chance to see a Gila Monster, Collared Lizard, beautiful Side-blotched Lizards (which look as though their scales are flecked with turquoise), and numerous Western Whiptails and Ornate Tree Lizards.

        Have you ever stopped to wonder why Arizona lizards do those comical pushups to display their "abs of azure?" Learn Your Lizard walks are a chance to learn why. Mesa Community College Prof. Andy Baldwin is an expert on the subject of lizards and scorpions. Participants in the guided walks this summer will have many chances to observe unique reptile behavior and learn why lizards have blue bellies and other Sonoran esert adaptations. Dozens of entertaining reptiles scurry across the main trail at the Arboretum, where a variety of species are common and many of the lizards are more accustomed to people walking by than their cousins out in the desert. Mornings can still be hot in September, so wear sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat and carry a bottle of water. Carry along binoculars for a close-up view of reptilian colors, and a field guide to reptiles if you own one.

        Visitors will learn the meaning of the word "herpetologist" and are likely to see a variety of "herps," and perhaps even a handsome western diamondback rattlesnake basking quietly in the shade near the Boojum trees in the Arboretum's Cactus Garden. Reptiles around the Arboretum trails are more easily observed than along desert paths where their survival depends on being wary and furtive. Just ask Dr. Baldwin:

        "Plants provide lizard habitat, and what better place can you go to find shady forests to open cactus deserts where all the plants are in prime condition than the Boyce Thompson Arboretum? For great lizard diversity in a one-morning walk, you can't beat it. In a couple of hours walking quietly around the trails, we start to observe not only the lizards that are present, but the ways they move, sit, and the type of habitat where you can find them. These are bits of information that become very useful in identifying the lizard species.

        "Every lizard walk offers different species given the time of day, month of the year, the trail you take, the weather -- your luck that day -- and who knows what else? Last Summer our groups saw Tree Lizards, Greater Earless Lizards, Tiger Whiptails, Desert Spiny Lizards, and even Side-Blotched Lizards. Less common are Zebra-tailed Lizards, Collard Lizards.... and maybe even a Gila Monster. Sometimes, if we're lucky, we will see a snake such as a coachwhip, gopher snake, or rattlesnake."

        Dr. Baldwin is on the Life Science Faculty at MCC. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Arlington with a study of evolutionary history of reptiles and amphibians; his master's degree at Appalachain State University in North Caroline with research on scorpions in west Texas and his bachelor of science degree at University of North Carlina at Charlotte with a study of the ecology of carnivorous pitcher plants. Dr. Baldwin's publications in herpetology range from East Coast salamanders to Texas geckos and even cobras in South Africa. His present ressearch is on scorpions of the Superstition range.

         Do you want to see more images of native Arizona reptiles? Check out the great website: azreptiles.com
The impressive lizard closeup photographs on this page are used courtesy of our Arboretum friends and photographers Patsy Akers, Gale Racut and also Richard Ditch. To see more of their work or inquire about copyright and reprinting, check their websites via the links on this page.

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