Vertebrates but not birds

Columbia spotted frog I grew up in Ontario as a kid and lived near natural areas that teemed with life of all kinds.  There were insects and mammals, amphibians and turtles, and lots of different kinds of fish.  We spent hours wandering around the near by wilds, exploring every nook and cranny and discovering the wide assortment of creatures that existed there.  It was there that the passion for wildlife took hold of me, where I learned to catch and identify creatures, and there that I formed an interesting bond with my brother. The two of us are almost seven years apart, an eternity when you are young, and we never really spent much time together doing stuff.  We did, however, both develop an interest in the outdoors, him more towards fishing and me more towards photography.  As adults now we find that this is a common theme that runs through our lives, both drawn towards living things existing naturally around us.  We have both shared our passion with our children too, which is

Tuatara The tuatara is an amazing animal for a number of reasons.  The first has to do with the fact that it belongs to a group of reptiles which exists nowhere else in the world other than New Zealand.  It is not a lizard, crocodile, turtle, or snake.  It is a tuatara, the fifth group of reptiles which many people don't know about.  They are endangered because of the activities of man; we are wiping them out. The first method of extinction has to do with us bringing invasive species into their habitat.  This includes rats, mice, possoms, weasels, cats, and dogs.  Each of these preys upon the tuatara, the eggs of the tuatara, or the young of the tuatara. The second method of extinction has to do with global warming.  They do well enough in the heat, that is not the problem.  The problem is in the eggs.  If the eggs are cool enough, you get a female.  If they are warmer, you get a male.  Lately most of the tuatars have been male - you can imagine that getting a date would beco

Gecko on Samoa My first confession is that I really like reptiles.  All reptiles.  Snakes and lizards fascinate me in particular though.  I grew up catching snakes but, living in Eastern Canada, never came across any lizards in any of my adventures.  After moving west to BC I started catching them, and their intrigue has continued to grow. It started out with a western fence lizard, then a northern alligator lizard, and even a sagebrush lizard.  I have managed to photograph a half dozen other species which I never caught by hand but did through freezing light.  All of this was done along the west coast of North America, from Southern BC to Arizona.  So, when my wife and I had a chance to travel to other lands, you just had to know that I would keep an eye open for any of their distant relatives. We have been on a cruise for 38 days, having hit Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand.  Each one was visited for only a short period of time, and the opportunit