Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Santa Barbara Endemics

Quick quiz - where would you go locally if you wanted to find endemic species? What sort of endemic species would you expect to find?

Yup, our very own Channel Islands host a number of endemic species - mainly plants but also one bird and the very cool Island Night LizardThe only reptile found on Santa Barbara Island is the endemic and threatened island night lizard. These lizards can live up to 20 years or more, but once established in a territory generally remain within a 3-meter radius their entire life.

Disturbing fact of the day - San Nicholas Island, one of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands that is still used by the Navy as a weapons testing facility, was one of eight candidate sites for the first atomic bomb detonation.

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