Fishing - Wall Lizards & The Lazarus Family

On Mon, 23 May 2011 08:59:13 -0700 (PDT), Garrison wrote:

Lazarus lizards now part of our culture

Boy smuggled first group here from Italy in 1951 and they've spread
hundreds of miles

3:37 AM, May. 23, 2011 |

About six European wall lizards, smuggled through customs in a sock by
10-year-old George Rau, arrived in Cincinnati in 1951 from northern
Italy. In the six decades since, they have spread hundreds of miles to
the north of Columbus, to Kentucky, and to Indiana where they were the
target of a three-year extermination campaign by the state. / The
Enquirer/Amie Dworecki

About six European wall lizards, smuggled through customs in a sock by
10-year-old George Rau, arrived in Cincinnati in 1951 from northern
Italy.

He released them at his family's home on Torrence Court, near the
border of Hyde Park and Columbia Tusculum, and within a few years the
6- to 10-inch reptiles were spreading throughout the neighborhood.

The lizards, with detachable, regenerating tails for thwarting would-
be predators or curious children, quickly caught the attention of
locals. They began referring to them as Lazarus lizards, due to Rau
being the stepson of famed department store operator Fred Lazarus III.

"My plan was always to release them," said Rau, of Grand Junction,
Colo. "The climate was almost exactly the same (as in northern Italy)
and I thought it would be fun to see them climbing on the rock walls
where I grew up."

In the six decades since, they have spread hundreds of miles to the
north of Columbus, to Kentucky and to Indiana - where they were the
target of a three-year extermination campaign by the state.

Herpetologists estimate the region is now home to hundreds of
thousands of the scaly creatures - so many they are considered
permanent residents by the state and have been granted protection
under Ohio law.

Biologist Ken Petren and a handful of graduate students at the
University of Cincinnati have been studying the lizards since 2007.

One of the graduate students, Ninnia Lescano, completed a genetic
study of the lizards last year that allowed them to test the veracity
of the popular origin story.

"More often than not with invasive species, even though there might be
a story of a single introduction, a genetic study is done and they
find evidence of multiple introductions," Petren said. "But it appears
that all the lizards today descended from just a few of the lizards
that (Rau) brought back with him."

Petren also has been tracking the migration of the lizards, and has
found that they have not spread gradually as might be expected but
instead in isolated pockets.

The reason for the peculiar migration pattern is their strong
preference for rocky terrain or crumbling walls on southern-facing
slopes.

"It's a very patchy environment where they can make it through the
winter," said Petren, noting that the lizards dig burrows for winter
but stay active even during the coldest months.

Petren and his students created a website - www.uc.edu/lizards - to
allow the public to report sightings of the lizards.

In addition to more than 400 reports of sightings from as far away as
Columbus, Oxford and Hillsboro, as well as several confirmed
populations in Kentucky, Petren received admissions from 15 responders
that they had intentionally transferred the lizards to new areas.

"No wonder we are not seeing a gradual spread," Petren said. "To the
public they are kind of cool. Why not have a few in your garden?"

While it is against Ohio law to capture, harm or transport wall
lizards, Petren said they are so well-established in Cincinnati that
no harm would likely come of moving them within the city.

"It's impressive how many there are," said Petren, who said they can
establish population densities in ideal habitats of up to 1,500 per
acre. "(But) they are not aggressive and they don't defend territory."

Outside the city, however, their appearance has been met with mixed
reactions.

The lizards have been established in Northern Kentucky, mainly at
sites on or near the Ohio River, for over a decade, but they do not
appear to be spreading or to be a threat to native species, said
officials from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.

They also have established colonies in New York City, according to the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and on
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, according to the British Columbia
Ministry of the Environment. Here, as well, local departments do
little more than monitor their spread.

But when the lizards showed up in Indiana in 2005 at the Falls of Ohio
state park in Clarksville, a rural town along the Ohio River near
Louisville, Ky., state officials there had a much different reaction.

"We were worried it might displace some of the native species," said
Zach Walker, who was the state herpetologist at the time. "So we
decided to do a control."

Walker guesses they captured about 30 Lazarus lizards that first
summer, and about 50 to 60 over the duration of the control.

Walker estimates the eradication cost the state "between $10,000 and
$30,000," and believes it was successful.

But park manager Steve Knowles isn't so sure.

"I've had some visitors who claimed to see them, but that's
unconfirmed," Knowles said. "We had a couple reports last year, but I
haven't seen any this year."

Rau, for his part, doesn't see what all the fuss is about.

"From my perspective it's just one more wonderful little animal living
in southern Ohio that eats a lot of bugs and makes some people smile,"
Rau said. "So no regrets at all - my ecological conscience is clear."

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110522/NEWS01/105230328?odyssey=mod|lateststories

Tracking the Lazarus lizard

Smuggled into Cincinnati 57 years ago, this reptile has thrived (some
say too well) in its adopted home

Tuesday, August 12, 2008 3:19 AM

By Bobby Pierce and Mark D. Somerson

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

CINCINNATI -- There are pockets of this hilly city where sleek little
Italian imports cruise the streets.

But these are no Fiats or Alfa Romeos. Those, Carolyn Caldwell might
appreciate.

These are lizards: European wall lizards, to be precise. They sunbathe
on the sidewalks and nestle in the rocky walls that line old
neighborhoods.

Podarcis muralis, wildlife experts say, has become too comfortable.

"It's in Ohio's best interest if they were never here to begin with,"
said Caldwell, of the Ohio Division of Wildlife. "If it were feasible
and possible to eliminate the species, we would."

In 1951, George Rau, a young member of the Lazarus family, was on
vacation at Lake Garda near Milan, Italy, where he adopted a handful
of local lizards. When he returned, the boy smuggled the reptiles back
to the department store family's home east of downtown Cincinnati.

Little did the boy know that the street where he let them go was a
perfect fit for the species, which is known locally as the Lazarus
Lizard. The street, Torrence Court, is known as Lizard Hill.

"The climate and precipitation are almost identical in Milan and
Cincinnati," said Stan Hedeen, who recently retired from teaching
biology at Xavier University.

The reptile's population grew from a few to tens of thousands, said
Hedeen, who spent 30 years tracking its migration patterns.

"In Europe, the lizards existed on rocky slopes. When George Rau
brought them to Cincinnati, they were pre-adapted because they were
used to European cities," he said.

In nature, Hedeen explained, species inhabit niches. If a new species
is introduced, several things can happen.

In some cases, the species simply can't survive in its new
surroundings. Climate and competition, among other things, can spell
doom for a species trying to get a foothold.

Other species adapt quickly and thrive. The emerald ash borer, wild
boar and mute swan are a few.

Hedeen said he thinks the wall lizard occupied a niche left vacant by
the fence lizard, a species that did well in the area until rapid
urbanization forced the species to leave.

Urban growth, however, did not faze the wall lizard, and its numbers
grew. The species spread across the city.

Ken Petren, a biologist at the University of Cincinnati, and
colleagues have been studying the lizard's DNA and its movement for a
year and a half. (The lab's Web site, www.uc.edu/lizards asks visitors
to report sightings.)

He said wherever there is a limestone wall with good southern
exposure, the lizards could follow.

This kind of population success and movement spells trouble, according
to wildlife experts, who worry about the impact non-native species
have on existing ecosystems.

Train tracks provide a good means of transportation for the wall
lizard. There is plenty of vegetation along the tracks, warm rocks on
which to travel and hollow areas in the railroad ties for nesting.

By 2005, the lizard found a way into Indiana and got a foothold at the
Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, just north of Louisville,
Ky.

There, the Lazarus lizard thrived and began to push out native
species, including other lizards and skinks.

Indiana's reaction was swift and severe. The state passed an emergency
rule in July 2006 to eradicate the species.

The rule stated: "Unless controlled, the European wall lizard is
likely to expand its range and endanger the ecological balance at
other sites in Indiana and elsewhere in the United States."

Zack Walker, state herpetologist for Indiana until he left in May for
a job in Wyoming, was one of those charged with enforcing the rule.

Walker used a variety of methods to attract the lizard, including
strawberry jam. Catching them was another challenge, and he employed
everything from sticky boards to nooses.

Many he caught with his hands.

"We believed they were in low enough numbers to be able to" eradicate
them, he said.

The proof, Walker said, is in the skink.

"The five-lined skink wasn't observed as often when the wall lizard
made it here," he said.

The skinks are showing signs of a comeback in the park and, last year,
wildlife officials found no signs of wall lizard offspring.

But what about Ohio?

"From Lizard Hill they have been spreading, and there is no reason
they shouldn't make it to Columbus," Hedeen said.

That troubles Caldwell, who said the state simply doesn't have the
people or the money to track the species.

"How do we know it hasn't made it here?" she said. "We know it has had
range expansion, but it is not a well-studied species."

Petren said his lab is moving a small population of lizards to an
experimental habitat at Lunken Airport to get a better look at the
wall lizard.

"We think there is a genetic bottleneck they are going through," he
said. "They have trouble finding suitable habitats."

Caldwell isn't so sure.

She said the European wall lizard's success makes it nearly impossible
to eradicate the species in Ohio. However, keeping it from spreading
is important.

Smaller native lizards and skinks are at risk.

Any invasive species gives wildlife officials pause. Their success can
mean doom for a native species and have repercussions on the existing
food chain and in ecosystems.

"If we can make the public aware -- let them know that they should not
pick them up and release them in other areas," Caldwell said. "This
lizard can be devastating to less-competitive species."

If a Lazarus lizard is caught by a wildlife official looking for other
reptiles, she said, it will be killed.

Hedeen said although the European wall lizard is territorial and could
compete with other reptiles it comes across, he doesn't believe the
Italian import should be eradicated.

"Humans haven't been in North America very long," he said. "But look
at how we have changed it."

European wall lizard

(Podarcis muralis)

This species of reptile was brought to Cincinnati from Italy in 1951
and has become well-established in the area.

Description

Wall lizards have a somewhat flattened body with long limbs and toes,
an angular head and a prominent jaw. Their backs are green or brown
with black blotches. The stomach is lighter in color.

Habitat and Habits

The lizards now have spread through the Cincinnati area and have
population densities of 1,500 per acre in good habitats. Because they
have persisted for many years and survived through record-setting
severe winters, they are considered permanent residents.

Reproduction and Care of the Young

Mating occurs shortly after hibernation in the spring, and the eggs
are laid about one month later. Females either bury the eggs or
deposit them under a rock. They hatch one month later. No parental
care is involved.

Number of offspring

Three to 11

Typical Foods

Insects, such as flies, beetles and spiders

Predators

House cats, some birds of prey

Source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content...4_HTAV3JF.html