As I was out today cutting out extra wisteria shoots (if you are thinking of putting a wisteria in your garden, think really yard, and think again, go have coffee, and think once more), this little creature popped out at me. In English it's a glass snake; in Turkish it's an iron snake. Actually it's not any sort of snake at all, it's a lizard that just happens to have given up its legs for the cause of evolution. What makes it a lizard? Its scales are quite different, it has ears (snakes don't), and it can blink its eyes (snakes can't). Like most lizards, it can drop its tail if attacked and regenerated it to some extent later; this one appears to have done it during the last season. Since I disturbed his winter sleep, I took him down to another big pile of rubble that won't get disturbed any time soon where he can hide out till the weather gets a bit warmer. I saw normal lizards out yesterday morning so it shouldn't be long. He's kinda cute, isn't he?
Bugün mor fazla mor salkım köklerini temizlerken, bu hayvancık önüme çıktı. Türkçede demir yılanı denir, İngilizcede ise "cam yılanı," fakat aslında ne demir ne de cam, gerçi yılan bile değil: Bacaklarını evrime bağışlamış bir kertenkeledir. Peki onu kertenkele kılan nedir? Pulları, yılanınkinden çok farklı, kulakları var (yılanlar sağırdır), gözlerini de kapatabilir (yılanlar kapatamaz). Diğer kertenkeleler gibi saldırııya uğradığı zaman kuyruğunun ucunu bırkabilir, daha sonra yine büyür (ancak orijinali kadar uzun olmayacak). Bu arkadaşın kış uykusunu bozduğum için, hava biraz ısınıncaya kadar saklanacağı, bozulmayacak bir moloz yığınına götürdüm. Fazla kalmaz aslında, dün sabah normal kertenkeleler gördüm. Şirin birşey değil mi?
As I was out today cutting out extra wisteria shoots (if you are thinking of putting a wisteria in your garden, think really yard, and think again, go have coffee, and think once more), this little creature popped out at me. In English it's a glass snake; in Turkish it's an iron snake. Actually it's not any sort of snake at all, it's a lizard that just happens to have given up its legs for the cause of evolution. What makes it a lizard? Its scales are quite different, it has ears (snakes don't), and it can blink its eyes (snakes can't). Like most lizards, it can drop its tail if attacked and regenerated it to some extent later; this one appears to have done it during the last season. Since I disturbed his winter sleep, I took him down to another big pile of rubble that won't get disturbed any time soon where he can hide out till the weather gets a bit warmer. I saw normal lizards out yesterday morning so it shouldn't be long. He's kinda cute, isn't he?
Bugün mor fazla mor salkım köklerini temizlerken, bu hayvancık önüme çıktı. Türkçede demir yılanı denir, İngilizcede ise "cam yılanı," fakat aslında ne demir ne de cam, gerçi yılan bile değil: Bacaklarını evrime bağışlamış bir kertenkeledir. Peki onu kertenkele kılan nedir? Pulları, yılanınkinden çok farklı, kulakları var (yılanlar sağırdır), gözlerini de kapatabilir (yılanlar kapatamaz). Diğer kertenkeleler gibi saldırııya uğradığı zaman kuyruğunun ucunu bırkabilir, daha sonra yine büyür (ancak orijinali kadar uzun olmayacak). Bu arkadaşın kış uykusunu bozduğum için, hava biraz ısınıncaya kadar saklanacağı, bozulmayacak bir moloz yığınına götürdüm. Fazla kalmaz aslında, dün sabah normal kertenkeleler gördüm. Şirin birşey değil mi?
2 comments:
Hello! I think the lizard is very interesting - the spider (in the previous post) much less so. [shudder]
I will say that your Turkish is very good! "How can she say that," you ask yourself; "she knows no Turkish...?" I do sign language interpreting at church each Sunday (which, btw, is where I come by my ASL practice), and invariably someone comes up to me and declares, "You sign so wonderfully!" as if they had any idea whatsoever what I was signing...!
Also BTW, I owe you a couple brownie recipes. I won't forget!
Heheh...for the first 3 years I took pretty much any compliments on my Turkish to be simple politeness. You know you're starting to get somewhere when they begin to correct you! Yes, brownies! I tried a "Blondie" recipe recently, thought it was going to be like a butterscotch bar mom used to make but it was just sweet, spongy, rubbery and kinda weird. A big "X" over that recipe! (And Lora Brody usually never fails me!) Take care
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