Lizards want blizards

If you think the weather has been a total nightmare recently then spare a thought for the unfortunate lizards facing mass extinction due to climate change.

According to new research undertaken at Exeter, in collaboration with the University of Lincoln, climate change could lead to dozens of lizard species becoming extinct within the next 50 years.

The paper found that changing weather patterns have threatened lizards with retention of embryos within the mother’s body. (Basically this is when they adapt from laying eggs (oviparity) to live birth (viviparity) and this was previously thought to be a positive evolution.)

However, this process of adaptation is practically irreversible and has become a huge pitfall in the face of global warming. The research has projected that increasing temperatures (impossible to believe right now, I know) in their cold habitats could lead to the population radically reducing, even threatening extinction in the next few decades.

This means the lizards may have to move to colder climates, which of course involves great risk to the species continuation.