Your Favourite Dinosaur Name?

[maulkin]

The two UK lizard species that I have seen are the Viviparous lizard Lacerta vivipara and the slow worm Anguis fragilis. Both species give birth to live young, an adaptation to our cold climate!

I once witnessed a very entertaining battle in a graveyard between a cat and a large slow worm. Slow worms are limbless lizards (hence the name) with very smooth, shiny scales. The cat just couldn't get a grip on the lizard but was determined not to let it go. I wish that I had had my camera with me.

[Nuytsia]

Hey that's interesting about the live bearing lizards. A lot of Tasmanian lizards bear live young, and I didn't realise it was an adaptation to the colder climate here (compared to mainland Australia).
Those slow worms must be slippery!! We do have some legless lizards here in Australia, but I am pretty sure there aren't any in Tasmania. We don't have as great a variety of reptiles as the mainland - no geckoes, no goannas or monitors, no turtles/tortoises and only three species of snake! That was a bit of a surprise when I first moved here.
(Also no crocodiles phew!)
I've never actually seen a snake on our property here. We used to see them quite a bit when out walking near the river when I lived in Western Australia.

[Farseer]

I've never actually seen a snake on our property here.

Right there is yet another reason why I should make a sea change to Tasmania, Nuytsia!

I have had more than my fair share of snake stories and so could definitely tolerate a future without them...a Down's Tiger Snake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collett's_Snake in the entertainment unit while my daughter was watching Playschool one afternoon, a whopper of a King Brown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_brown in the washtubs which took three boiled kettles and a 410 shotgun to finish it off and a couple of occasions where others have been wrapped around the doorknob of the kids' bedroom, to name just a few that pop into my head.

I grew up on a sheep station and we had an indoor garden which acted as a magnet to every kind of snake possible...I lived my life in fear! We used to get an abundance of frogs in the toilets and where there are frogs, there tends to be snakes also, and King Browns on most occasions!!

I will never forget the day when I was in our schoolroom with my two boys doing schoolwork while my daughter (a baby at the time) was asleep on a quilt on the floor...we'd had a box of nearly two dozen chickens in the room with us at the time and suddenly a big goanna roared in through a piece of guaze on the verandah, slipped in through a crack in the door and ate the lot of the chickens bar one...of course we named the one which remained, 'Lucky'!

---

ps On topic...with the Muttaburrasaurus, the Minmi and the Kronosaurus all being local dinosaurs to our area, I'd have to go with those in a three-way tie for title of 'favourite'.

[Nuytsia]

I actually like snakes.....

[maulkin]

Farseer, what is a sheep station? I have a picture in my head of a railway station in a sheep field but it is probably something completely different.

I like snakes too!

I found this one in Madagascar in 2002.

[Farseer]

I actually like snakes.....

Oh no, my lengthy reply has just vanished TWICE !!! Here I go again...

I am sure you were horrified to read my post then, Nuytsia, but I promise they only die when circumstances are dire (such as was the case with the boiling water and shotgun...the King Brown was extremely agitated and I needed for it to either relocate itself or die...it chose not to relocate itself after numerous attempts to encourage it to do so and I was cornered with young children to protect. That I escaped with my life and no puncture wounds to my face is an outcome for which I will always be thankful...*shudder*...it's a long story but it was a very near thing!).

We do relocate most, and just as often get as many pythons and non-venomous visitors as we do the deadly ones. Maybe I have just been in far too many life-threatening situations with the deadly ones. and the motherly instinct takes over...fight or flight usually ends in the need to fight in close quarters and so very far from the benefit of a doctor...hence my dislike.

Outside, out in the paddock or the bush or wherever, they're fine, but sometimes it's just a case of kill or be killed in the home environment...like Fitz and the Forged ones, it's not always pleasant but nonetheless necessary. Here's a pic of my daughter with a python, just for proof that we're not a bunch of trigger-happy snake killers

Maulkin, a sheep station in this context is just a large sheep farm and the term tends to be used throughout Australia and New Zealand (though many people who live in Australian and NZ towns still, usually incorrectly, call them 'farms'). A similarly used term would be a sheep property eg The property I live on now is a cattle station whereas I grew up on a sheep station. Loved your snake pic!

[maulkin]

Farseer, I see your point. Small children and venomous reptiles should not be allowed to mix too intimately in the home environment. I am glad to hear that you have such an enlightened attitude towards non-venomous snakes. So many people kill those as well. Having said this, I'm not sure that I would trust a large python or boa with my baby daughter!

A part of me is quite glad that we have so few dangerous animals in the UK. However, another part wishes that we had more nasties out there. The presence of dangerous wildlife really heightens one's appreciation and respect for nature, as I have found when working in wilder places. I suppose that this is a little like the Fool's argument for reintroducing dragons to the World.

An Australian sheep station sounds much like a Welsh hill farm. Sheep wander freely over a given area of land and are rounded up with dogs when required for shearing etc. I imagine that the Australian ones are a bit bigger though!

What a beautiful snake (and your daughter looks very nice too)!

[Nuytsia]

Oooh those people with snake pics are both great!!
Yep Farseer, I DID certainly consider how far you are from medical attention when thinking about venomous snake encounters! The whole story makes far more sense to me with your extended version, phew! Glad to hear you were all ok (well relatively!)
I feel sad that I haven't seen any snakes here on our property - they have a part to play in the ecosystem as you guys obviously are well aware, and I just hope there are at least some doing their thing out there.
We used to have close encounters with snakes in Perth from time to time inside buildings. Usually dugites, which I think can kill you but didn't seem agressive in my experience. Once we had one in the boss's office at work hehehehe and they had to call in a snake catcher to relocate it back to some bush.
Heheh yes Maulkin sheep and cattle stations in Australia are so big it really blows my mind!!! Ours here in Tassie are not even big enough to be called 'stations'!
Hmm I thought I made a post about Crocodile awesomeness in the thread about dragons but I think it got eaten and I couldn't be bothered retyping it.......? Unless I posted it somewhere else? Basically saying it's funny how you take for granted whatever it is you grow up with. I think people from Britain are a bit scared a spider or snake is going to kill them when they visit Aus but to me I never think about those things hurting me (even though theoretically it could happen), Whereas when I visited Far North Queensland I was sort of pathetically terrified that a Crocodile would get me... there were these scary signs everywhere...... and one time we went for a walk in the rainforest and this huge slithery thing was moving through the undergrowth and I was JUST About to freak out and yell CROC!!! when I saw it was a huge lace monitor (a harmless (?) big goanna type thing).

[maulkin]

While I was in Madagascar, we walked along a trail with a lot of signs warning of crocodiles. When I asked my guide how much danger we were in, she replied that her predecessor had been eaten by a croc. She said it with a big smile on her face and seemed really pleased that she had been able to get this wonderful job... The place in which I have been most aware of dangerous wildlife is in the forests of eastern Siberia, where there are lots of bears and the occasional tiger. I kept seeing bear prints and fresh bear dung on the trail in front of me and I knew that they must be watching me.