No Legs Wonder

At age eight I watched an early-morning TV program featuring a herpatologist from the zoo in Oklahoma City showing and talking about the only leggless lizard in the state, the Western Glass Lizard. Fascinated I recall him saying that the lizard could be found in every part of the state except the far western reaches of No Man's Land in the panhandle. From that day forward I kept my eye peeled for one whenever I was roaming about outside.

More than three decades later while driving at leisurely pace across The Breaks near Jester, Oklahoma with my sister and her grandson one fine, clear morning, I finally spotted one sunning itself at the edge of the dirt road. Without explanation, I stopped and lept out of the truck to retrieve the creature. My sister didn't raise any protest, knowing I might be trying to catch something interesting as she and I both had during early summer of 1970 on herpatology expiditions we participated in at the museum of science and nature in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Catching it, I verified that it was indeed a Western Glass Lizard (by its ear openings and markings) and then showed it to them, describing how long I had been searching for one since watching that TV show so long ago as a child. It was a beautiful animal, and did not seem upset about being handled, but I resisted the urge to overdo the encounter and set it loose where I found it. It settled back into a resting position on the roadside to soak up more warmth. No harm done, and a lifelong goal achieved.