- Among the lizards of Euskal Herria is not the largest, but surely the best known. The green lizard, as its name suggests, has a very green body and, in the breeding season, has a bluish head and neck. Moreover, his body is made up of small black dots, but without concealing his greenness.
Green lizard (Lacerta bilineata)
Group: Vertebrate / Reptile.
Size: approximately 13 cm (without glue).
Where does he live? Mainly in meadow and forest.
What do you eat? Small invertebrates.
Level of protection: protected at European level.
Males are usually larger than females (always less than 13 cm) and have more heads than the body. Females often have two white stripes on both sides of the back. Hence its scientific name: bilineata, because it has two lines.
Green lizard is often found in prairie areas. Usually in the area called ecotone. That is, at the limit of two different habitats: the wall and the meadow, the forest and the meadow, the forest and the wall -- because it's so important that there are adequate places to take and protect the sun.
The existence of these residential areas would also influence the reputation of the lizard. In fact, people who have lived in the vicinity of the farmhouses, or close to the rural areas, quickly know this beautiful reptile. But for their misfortune not all famas are good, and the lizard has touched the evil side of fame…
Bernardo Atxaga, when he wrote Obabakoa, talked about the lizard coming through his ear if he lay down on the prairie, leaving the person silly forever, eating his brain. However, in many villages, salsa has been famous as thin. They say that the lizard jumps to the front and is not released until it touches the bells of seven villages. That's why a lot of people are afraid of the lizard. That is why, and because of its proximity to the viper, it is said in some villages that where the lizard is there is a viper. We can't hide that they have a similar habitat, but you don't have to bring the other, so you can't say it's absolutely true either. Of course, the lizard has no venom, but it has spread word to mouth that the lizard's tooth is worse than the snake's. It does not, therefore, have a poor job that aims to deny them all.
But if any of the green lizards were famous, it was Hernani's green lizard. In 1913, a young British man named Edouard Britten toured Hernani. He captured a green lizard and sent it to the father of European herpetology, George Albert Boulenger. Hernani's lizard arrived at the British Museum of Natural History in London and leaves the famous Monograph of the Lacertidae, published in 1921. Once again, the green lizard became famous and appears in the greatest monograph about lizards, famous but dead.
All stories, stories and stories don't have to be true, and they're often written to foster human fears and attitudes towards them. Therefore, just as the collection and collection of orality is as beautiful as it is essential, we should also look from the critical point of view, so as not to waste false beliefs.