T.S. Kemp > Quotes

“The most optimistic prospect of saving reptiles, along with all the world’s wildlife, may lie indirectly in the huge interest in wildlife films, and the growth of ecotourism that follows it. The potential income can be a significant proportion of a nation’s GDP, but it depends entirely on developing and sustaining places where wildlife can be satisfactorily and harmlessly experienced by visitors in its true habitat. In some parts of the world, national economic self-interest has already recognized that there is more to be gained from long-term conservation than from short-term exploitation of our ever-diminishing natural world. It is to be hoped that this message spreads in time.”
― T.S. Kemp, Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction

“It is now quite certain that the birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs, indeed that they should strictly be classified in the Theropoda themselves. A number of forerunners of the birds have been discovered over the last twenty years, especially in Chinese Mesozoic rocks. The first to be described was named Sinosauropteryx. It astonished the world, because its skeleton was covered in the impressions of feathers, until then believed to be found only in birds. However the front legs of Sinosauropteryx were short and not at all like wings. Since then, several other small, feathered theropod dinosaurs have come to light, strengthening even more the link to birds. Microraptor, for example, had long, feathered front and hind limbs and is a possible four-winged intermediate stage in the evolution of flying. The distinction between small feathered dinosaurs and birds is now quite blurred.”
― T.S. Kemp, Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction

“Vision is acute in the typically diurnal lizards, where it is essential for catching live prey such as fast-moving insects, and even grabbing flying insects out of the air as they pass. Their colour vision is also excellent, better in some ways even than that of humans, because as well as discriminating between the three primary colours that we do, some lizards’ eyes also have receptors sensitive to ultraviolet light. It is therefore no surprise that colour plays a more important role in the behaviour of lizards than in any other group of reptiles. Some species display extraordinarily conspicuous vivid colours and patterns to attract mates, even at the risk of increasing the chances of their being caught by a predator. For example, the garishly multi-coloured male of the Augrabies flat lizard of South Africa combines a bright blue head, greenish-blue front trunk, yellow front legs, orange hind legs and trunk, black belly, and tan and orange tail, not to mention a UV-coloured throat invisible to us. The female, in contrast, is mostly dark brown with cream stripes.”
― T.S. Kemp, Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction

“The mildly venomous colubrid Chrysopelea is the flying snake of south-eastern Asia. It is up to about 1.2 metres in length, and has several arboreal adaptations, such as ridged ventral scales, and a flattened belly. However, it has taken arboreal existence even further, for it is capable of gliding through the air from tree to tree for distances as much as 100 m. When ready to launch itself, the snake extends its ribs forwards and outwards. This doubles the width and surface area of the underside, and creates an aerodynamic shape like the wing of an aeroplane. As it throws itself forwards into the air, undulations of the body apparently make it an even more efficient glider, although we are not sure exactly how.”
― T.S. Kemp, Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction

“Unusually amongst reptiles, most geckos hunt at night, and can remain active even with a body temperature as low as 12°C. The eyes too are adapted for night-time. The pupil can be reduced to a vertical slit for daytime use, but expanded into a complete circle to allow in more light during darkness. Another feature of many geckos that is associated with their life at night is that they are the most vocal of lizards, indeed of all reptiles. The barking geckos, for instance, produce a series of clicks and growls in chorus as they busily defend their territory and seek out their mates.”
― T.S. Kemp, Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction

“We have already mentioned the advantage to snakes that feed on very large items of prey of not needing to feed very frequently, typically no more than once every week or two, and often they can survive without any food for several months. To save energy in between meals, snakes reduce their metabolic activity, and the temporarily unused digestive organs shrink. But within only six hours of taking in food, a python, for example, increases its metabolic rate some sixfold, and after two or three days organs like the small intestine, liver, pancreas, and kidney have doubled in size, and active digestion is taking place.”
― T.S. Kemp, Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction