Dinosaurs in our garden

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a local Estonian lizard that is always found in the summer garden, these are small animals that are like little dinosaurs in their green garden jungle, every time I approached very quietly, creeping, they always looked at me carefully with one eye, hoping I am not a crane or a stork that comes to catch them with its long beak.

But if you can see them up close, you will see how these animals are harmless and very timid, but very good hunters who have the patience to wait in one place when a larger insect approaches. They are very fast runners and very quick at catching prey. But if you manage to get them on your hand, and they feel that this hand is warm and safe, then they will even enjoy the sun on your hand and close their eyes.

they like this area very comfortably around the house

Rocks
with all day sunbathingvegetation-free roadsides
Dead wood with hiding placesdense clumpsloose
sandy soil.

But with today's technology, their lives have also become dangerous, because many lizards die in gardens because we mow the lawn and it destroys their habitat without us knowing it. Even I've driven over some in summer time and I can't always see into the grass and I only see it after mowing, but what protects them in the garden is if you make some piles of rocks, rocks the size of a large human head, they like to hide there until the mowing is finished around the house.

Here in Estonia we name it arusisalik , but in under another more difficult name it is (Zootoca vivipara)

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I maid this photos long time back what my Sony NEX-5T , it was very hard to get close what very tiny camera 😆👌👌👌☕

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