Let’s face it – the popular understanding of the cognitive abilities of reptiles isn’t particularly complimentary. And for that matter, even some areas of the scientific world have borrowed the name to represent aspects of biology that are considered primitive or base – the “reptilian brain,” for example. However…
I’ll be honest – alligators are not a very big part of my life. They’re neither native nor invasive to Oregon – I don’t even think the Oregon Zoo has one (they have two African Slender-snouted Crocodiles, which true to Portland form, they’ve named Morgan and Lance, but no alligators) – so I don’t tend to encounter them while afield. I did see one once while bird watching in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and years ago in New Orleans I had a small portion of one, deep fried with a side of chips, but that’s the limit of my experience with them.
Each time the nice people from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s publicity department contact me to say that they have a new Peterson’s Field Guide soon to be released, I always reply with a note that includes the text “Western? ;-)” As nine times out of ten they’re Eastern, this has become a friendly little joke between us. However every so often a new – or updated edition of a – Western guide does make an appearance.
Just this week, a new “totally serious herpetological podcast” was launched by Mark D. Scherz, Gabriel Ugueto, and Ethan “New York Times Best-selling Illustrator” Kocak (who also designed their superb logo, shown here), named – appropriately, SquaMates.