As you are learning about herps, pay attention to how they are related. Learning the relationships between members of various families of herps is a great mental exercise. Plus, there are far fewer taxonomic families in the world than there are species, so it is more manageable list to study. A good part of this task, naturally, is finding out how relatives are the same and how they are different (from each other and other animals). For example, the Komodo Dragon is a huge monitor lizard, which can grow to more than 8’ and 150 lbs. (3 m 68 kg). The Sand Goanna (pictured in this lesson) belongs to the same family, Varanidae, along with 78 other known species.
This lesson is part of Certified Herpetological Guide. Enrollment is self-paced, with no deadline to finish (about 50 hours).
