OUTDOOR BRIEFS

ONE STOP

Outdoor information service unveiled

Nevada's hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts are an organized group, constantly searching newspapers and the Nevada Department of Wildlife Web site (www.ndow.org) for population reports, fish stocking information, new information on hunt units and changes in boating laws.

With that in mind, the Nevada Department of Wildlife has unveiled the NDOW Information Service in an effort to get up-to-date information to the public as quickly as possible. The service sends out current NDOW press releases by e-mail to customers who have subscribed to one of the department's Listservs, an electronic mailing list that allows for widespread distribution of information to many internet users.

"The agency's goal is to move toward a more broad based dispersal of all of our information, and Listservs and the internet are critically important in reaching new audiences," said Kelly Clark, NDOW Conservation Education Division Chief.

People can either subscribe to receive all the information that NDOW sends out, or they can select to only receive information from one of four, more specific groups: hunting, fishing, boating or wildlife and habitat. Subscription is done on the NDOW Web site at www.ndow.org/subs/subs.asp.

Currently, the NDOW Information Service has more than 6,500 people subscribed to receive department news.

LIZARD TALES

Reptiles starting to seek out the sun

A sure sign that the warm weather has hit the Mojave Desert is the sight of lizards, which are commonly seen soaking up warmth from the springtime sun. Nevada Department of Wildlife Reptile Biologist Polly Conrad begins her diurnal (daytime) lizard surveys as early as March or April each year and tries to wrap them up by July before the extreme temperatures hit.

Even though lizards have adapted to the desert climate, lizards can still fall victim to overheating if they cannot move to a cooler location and regulate their body temperature. Conrad doesn't want any of the lizards to get superheated in the pitfall traps she uses to catch her specimens. She checks her traps early in the morning so she can release any captives before it gets too hot. The lizard surveys are a yearly occurrence statewide, and give biologists a good idea of the number and species that are present in the sampled areas.

One of the anomalies that Conrad has seen on her surveys is a two-tailed, Great Basin whiptail lizard found during a 2007 survey. "Whiptails are one of the fastest lizards in Southern Nevada," Conrad said, especially when they drop their tail to get away.

This two-tailed oddity had grown in a new tail right next to the long stump of the sloughed-off one. Most lizards have this adaptation of dropping their tail as a means of getting away from a predator. The tail breaks off at a natural weak point in the tail vertebrae.

Lizard tails are used for balance and locomotion, to play a part in social status and in some species to store fat reserves. The regrowth of the tail is costly -- with all the animal's energy being directed toward the new growth, any other growth, as well as reproduction slows down temporarily. Regenerated tails have no cartilage or bones, and they do not always have the color and markings of the original. They can, however, be detached again.