I was unsuccessful finding a Q animal at Brookfield, though I did find a species of Quail – but was so focused on the Jambu Fruit Dove that wasn’t, I missed that those quail were Q and already posted them! ~fail~  (Which, when you think about it, rhymes with “quail,” so, really, it was inevitable.)

This one made me chuckle because the main character in the first two novels of our Persis Chronicles series is named Quill, and this little fellow is covered in Quills, so there you go.

It’s even pertinent to my books, so there.  Take that, Q!

But only one problem:  this is the only picture that turned out of my shy little quilled friend.  The lighting is very dark because he’s a night dweller, so my camera just gave up on me.  Not to be deterred, I have some awesome shots of –

The Argus Monitor

All monitors are Varanids, or family Veranidae.  Remember high school biology?  “Knights play chess on fine-grained sand,” or Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.  Unfortunately, scientists redid all the taxonomy, (taxonomy is the science of classifying species), so all the stuff I learned is now out of date.  Which annoys me, but is a story for another day.  Getting back to Mister Argus, here.

Veranids are my husband’s favorite of the herps and he interacted with this one while I was photographing him.

As monitors go, this is a pretty large one.  The sobering thing to realize, is most of his head is mouth.  That jaw opens up for a good three inches or more and is all teeth.

o.O…

In this one, you can get an idea of his size.  Monitors are about half body and half tail, and they can use their tails as defensive weapons.  This monitor is about five feet long, for example.  Most of them are captive-bread due to their diminishing population in the wild.

The most common kind of monitor, and one you might recognize, is the Komodo dragon; those get up to ten or fifteen feet long and weigh as much as three-hundred fifty pounds.  It’s illegal to have them as pets and one must have direct permission from the government of Indonesia to own one or exhibit one in a zoo.  Chicago was privileged to have on on display at the Shedd Aquarium a couple years ago and we went with the Chicago Herpetological Society for a behind-the-scenes experience and to watch him get fed.

Any doubts you may have as to whether these animals are fast under the right circumstances were dispelled by watching him go after the food.  Scary stuff.

Tomorrow it’s R.  Rrrrr.  RRRRRRrrrr.  rrrRRRRRRRR!

---

Thank you for joining me for the A-Z Blog Challenge.  If you’re blogging in the challenge, please leave me a link so I can come visit you too.  If you have a moment, please check out these other fine blogs:

My theme on my Knoontime Knitting craft blog is Letterforms In Nature and the Built Environment.  I’ll be exploring my daily round, looking for shapes in the natural world and build environment.

The theme at Noon & Wilder is The A To Z of Chicago.  Since I live here in the city and we have our Chicagoland Shifters based here, I figured I’d share a window into the city, Noon & Wilder style.

The Nice Girls Writing Naughty have a new home, and we’re blogging in the challenge again this year.  Throughout the month you’ll be hearing from each of the Nice Girls, and during the RT Booklovers Convention from April 12^th to the 17^th, you’ll be getting live convention reports.  Join the conversation!

The Writer Zen Garden’s brand new website is up and running, and we’re bringing you posts from me, Noony; my partner in crime, Rachel Wilder (the Wilder half of Noon & Wilder); the talented Darla M. Sands – a blogger in her own right, see below; as well as Grace Kahlo, Evey Brown, and author Tina Holland.  Check it out!

My friends who are participating in the challenge (and if you’re not on this list, tell me and I’ll add you!):

• Darla M. Sands, Awakening Dreams and Conquering Nightmares with a Pen
• Kari Trenten, The Cauldron of Eternal Inspiration

Write on, and Happy Blogging!