Most people hiking in Glen Park pass by rocks without pausing to flip them over and photograph what may be living underneath. Many people who are hiking there are birders - looking up above at Red Tailed Hawks or listening to the calls of Great Horned Owls. Some people are simply enjoying the scenery for no particular reason. But when I visit O'Shaughnessy Reservoir, a relatively undisturbed patch of scrubland next to Glen Park, you'll often find me flipping over rocks in th

We've recently opened our anole exhibit, featuring a cloud-forest type ecosystem and our green anole Kermit. This habitat is situated next to the coastal chaparral lizard tank. As like all of our builds, the habitat was carefully crafted to replicate a tropical ecosystem. We are planning to specifically target the microclimate of Cuba, which has the largest anole ( Anolis ) species diversity. The habitat contains multiple invertebrates alongside Kermit such as Decollate snai

Elgaria is a small genus of anguid lizards that are limited to the West Coast of North America. Commonly known as 'alligator lizard's they are characterized by their slender, snake like appearance with small, stubby legs and a tail that usually takes up half of their body. Alligator lizards normally inhabit coastal areas though some subspecies tend to tolerate higher elevations, especially in the Cascade and Sierra Ranges ( https://californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/e.c.palmer