It goes without saying that this reptile has a very good reaction and iguana adaptation to be able to withstand and survive in captivity. This would indicate that the iguana has a fabulous iguana adaptation record although that doesnt mean that every single iguana or reptile known to man can be and quite often when other species of lizards are tried in captivity, they cease to thrive or survive. With that said however, lets take a look at one of the common and amazing iguana adaptations that are currently known and has published research information about.

The Green Iguana Adaptation

The green iguana is one of the most well researched and well-known iguanas to be held in captivity as well as in the wild. The green iguana adaptations are quite amazing in that there is nothing in the iguana that can maintain body temperature so in this manner, when the iguana is hot it must locate a cool area and rest there. Alternatively, because there is no internal regulator, the iguana adaptations must include the fact that when they need heat or light, they the iguana seeks out heat by basking in the hot sun or near a hot surface. It is in this manner that it is quite amazing that the green iguana adaptations must include the fact that it has to depend completely upon behavioral iguana adaptations to survive.

One of the most confused issues is the fact that the iguana adaptations do not include the under equipping of the iguana habitat because of the things that iguanas do not adapt well to is the lack of heat and light. These are two very essential elements to keeping the iguana in captivity and allowing it to achieve the proper iguana adaptations. It cannot be said enough how imperative proper lighting and heat elements are to the well being of any iguana whether in captivity or in the wild.

Some of the North American iguanas for example have demonstrated huge iguana adaptations by altering the diet that they consume. This reptile does best in tropical zones and North America doesnt offer much in the way of tropical areas however there are a few. These iguanas actually eat ants and other small insects as opposed to healthy algae and other sustaining nutrient giving substances that they can locate in the wild in tropical zones. Many zoo iguanas are fed such things as fruit, flowers and plants and are not typically an eater of other creature however, a major telltale iguana adaptation is that the North American iguanas do eat ants and other small creatures of the like to sustain themselves.

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Many earth-conscious consumers compost to keep biodegradable wastes out of landfills and to create a rich, organic matter that can be returned to the soil. Adding worms to your composting efforts, known as "vermiposting," can speed up the composting process and even enable you to keep composting in the winter, when most outdoor compost piles (at least in northern climates) are sitting there in a frozen state. Compost that has been created by vermiposting will be even richer in vital nutrients that your plants need.

You can compost under the sink, in the basement, in a closet, or some other convenient out-of-the-way spot. Even if you live in a small apartment, you can create your own compost for your houseplants! A properly maintained compost bin will not draw insects or have an objectionable odor, and visitors won't suspect you have a tub of rotting garbage in the house!

Once you've decided where to put your bin, you need to prepare a worm bin. There are many commercial vermiposting kits you can buy, and they can be expensive. Forget about them. Go to the local dollar store and buy a cheap plastic tub, about an 8-gallon size, with a lid.

To set up your compost bin, drill several 1/4" holes in the bottom for drainage and lay a piece of fine mesh screen in the bottom (an old window screen is perfect) to keep the compost and worms from leaking out the bottom. Place your bin on some bricks to raise it off the floor, and put a drip tray underneath.

Prepare the bedding for your worms by shredding up some newspaper (black and white print only, no color inks) and soaking it with water. Not too much water; you want the paper to be about as moist as a wrung-out sponge. Add a few handfuls of dirt, which the worms need to digest food properly, and some dead leaves (whole, not shredded), already decomposed compost, or aged manure, whichever is available, to create a suitable biological environment to get started. Fill your compost bin about 3/4 full of organic matter. If the material in the bin seems a bit too wet, add some dry shredded paper or dead leaves to soak up the excess moisture, or just let the bin sit and dry out a few days before adding your earthworms.

You will need about two pounds of worms for each pound of garbage you create daily. You can buy earthworms online, from a local or regional wholesaler, or the local bait shop. You might even find enough worms to get started in a pile of decaying leaves in the back yard. Don't use common earthworms who prefer to tunnel in soil and won't be happy living in a compost heap.

Lay your earthworms on top of the organic matter in the bin and put it under a bright light. The worms will begin to tunnel their way into the bedding to escape the light. Once they have made themselves at home, put the lid on the bin and tuck it away in the spot you have chosen.

You can start feeding your earthworms with kitchen waste and by-products: fruit and vegetable scraps, dry bread, crushed egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds and filters, dryer lint, and other organic waste. Chop or tear the waste into small pieces for quicker decomposition, or you can let the worms do the work for you. To add waste to your compost bin, make a trench down the middle, add the waste, and then cover it back up. The worms will find their way to their fresh food and start munching.

Avoid adding refined sugar, meat scraps and bones, dairy products and vegetable oil products (like mayonnaise and salad dressing); too much of this will draw insects and create odor. You can also add dead leaves, grass clippings, and other yard and garden waste to your compost bin. Oxygen is necessary for decomposition, and the worms absorb necessary oxygen through their membranes, so stir the bin every week or two to aerate the compost. If your worm bin develops an odor it is probably too wet or compacted. Stir the bin and add some shredded paper to absorb some of the excess moisture.

When the amount of compost in the bin is substantially reduced and has an earthy, brown appearance, it is ready to use. This process usually takes about two or three months if you have chopped the waste into small pieces, and perhaps six months if you've added it whole.

Now it's time to harvest your vermipost. There are a couple of ways to do this. If you have a smaller bin, just turn the bin over on a large tarp under a bright light, and lift it off to leave a cone-shaped pile. The worms will automatically begin wriggling their way to the bottom center of the pile to escape the light. Brush the top of the pile off as the worms tunnel their way down. Soon you will have separated the worms from the lovely vermipost they have made for you.

An alternative method, which works better for larger bins, is to push all the finished compost to one side, and add fresh material to the other side. Eventually all the worms will work their way over to the fresh material in search of food, and you can scoop out the finished compost on the other side.

Mix your vermipost with potting soil for indoor plants or outdoor container gardens, or work it into the ground around your flower and vegetable plants. Add some to the hole in the ground when transplanting seedlings or mature plants. While you're waiting for the compost to be finished, you can make "worm tea" to feed your plants. Sift a handful of the partially-decomposed material through a mesh strainer to remove big pieces, add the fine material to your watering can, and water your plants as usual.

Now you can use your worms to start another compost bin. When conditions are right, Red Worms and Red Wigglers will reproduce quickly and prolifically. While they were turning your garbage into rich compost, your earthworms also have been laying worm capsules, which hatch about two dozen baby worms each.

In about a year you should have enough worms that you can give some away to friends for their own vermiposting efforts. Depending on the size of your bin, you may have enough to sell your worms as fish bait, a nutritious snack for pet reptiles and birds, or as composting worms to other earth-conscious consumers. And you can feel good about helping to take care of our environment!

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Have you ever read a book by George Orwell entitled 1984? He wrote his pessimistic view of the future in 1948. This is the book that gave us Big Brother, the idea of constant surveillance, and a model society based on strict conformity. Among the tools developed to promote conformity, Orwells society invented Newspeak, where words are redefined to meet the draconian social order.

In Newspeak we learn that war is peace, love is hate, and other definitional reversals that send chills down the spine of anyone who understands the implications. The actual 1984 has come and gone, but many of Orwells predictions are with us, especially newspeak. We are no longer fired but downsized, wars produce collateral damage instead of civilian casualties, and religion is science.

Did that last one get past you? If not, you may be in a minority, because American school boards have been and remain under pressure to insert religious instruction into the science curriculum as science.

In recent months the question of how schools should treat the revisionist Intelligent Design (ID) doctrine, a claim by a very vocal group of extreme fundamentalist Christians that science classes should present the Genesis story of the creation of life and its diversity on an equal footing with scientific theories. The story has been featured in practically every medium available, from the august pages of Science magazine to a front-page series in the New York Times, and everything in between, including Time, Newsweek, American Scholar, Natural History, the American School Board Journal, and on and on. The quantity, length, and emotional outpouring of the coverage rivals that given to the Abu Ghraib and Swift Boat issues of 2004. Even in religious circles there are opposite camps, the Archbishop of Vienna supporting the intelligent design doctrine (New York Times, 7 July 2005), while Vatican chief astronomer Father George Coyne defending Darwinism (The Tablet, 5 August 2005). Finally, no less a scientific non-expert as President Bush went on record saying he though ID should be taught in schools.

The issue of whether or not to teach biblical creationism (under the new name Intelligent Design) and to warn students that evolutionary theory is a weak idea from the fringes of scientific respectability is once again in the courts. Pennsylvanias Dover Area School District has been sued by eight families who oppose any passing off of religion as science and requiring teachers to misrepresent science in their classrooms.

Why doesnt ID deserve equal time as the alternative scientific theory to biological evolution? In simplest terms, because ID is not science, nor is it based upon science. ID is based on literal interpretation of bible stories, with no testable hypotheses, no explanation that meets the meaning of scientific, and no possibility of changing its views in the face of contradictory evidence. In short, Intelligent Design is not a scientific theory or claim, and is thus ineligible to be presented as science. ID is based on some people observing complexity in nature and, because they cannot understand what is happening or how it came to be, believe God must have done it. I havent a clue how my car engine works, but I am also pretty sure that God did not make it! Imagine what John Paul Jones would have thought if he could have seen a nuclear aircraft carrier

The few Ph.D. scientists who support the idea are chemists, engineers, and physicists, not biologists. The few biologists who support the idea are mainly biochemists, again with limited experience of whole organism biology. Their take on the complexities of evolution are as limited as car mechanics knowledge of pharmacy.

Real science is the practice of observing and explaining nature without resorting to the supernatural. Just because we dont know how something works doesnt mean God did it. In fact, as soon as we credit God (or angels, leprechauns, demons, whatever) with something we have stopped doing science.

As for the core of the issue, let mean evolutionary biologistmake one thing perfectly clear: Evolution is a fact. It is on an absolute par with the orbit and shape of the earth, the behavior of electrons to produce electricity, and the constancy of the speed of light. To deny biological evolution is no different than denying those other factsthough some people do still believe that the earth doesnt move and is flat and the speed of light is variable.

The theory of evolution by means of natural selection is a scientific explanation of how (not if) evolution happens. The holes in the theory are minor, and deal with questions about whether organisms evolve quickly or slowly, in rapid steps or gradual transitions, or whether the host or its parasites is the major force for change. So far, the theory of evolution is so well supported that it has no scientifically valid competition.

Science teachers should be able to hit ID head on, by saying up front Intelligent Design is one of thousands of religion-based explanations for the origin and diversity of life, but like those others it is not a scientific explanation because

Alternately, for those who delight in the peripheral issues, perhaps scientists and non-fundamentalists could start demanding that ID/Creationists must subject their beliefs to the scientific method, to provide equal time in church. Perhaps we should insist upon having a notice stamped inside Bibles that reads: caution: these accounts represent only a few of several thousand religious viewpoints, any of which might be true or all of which might be false. It might be interesting to see what real physicists, biologists, and chemists have to say about the burning bush, immaculate conception, and transmutation of water into wine. What might we learn by shedding some light on the parting of the sea, walking on water, and the nature of demons? More important, what might we learn about ourselves?

Dr. Sprackland is an evolutionary zoologist and herpetologist, and director of the Virtual Museum of Natural History at http://www.curator.org. His article on venoms, "Toxic Treasures," was the cover story in the October 2005 Natural History magazine. His article on "Origins" for the November 2005 American School Board Journal, covered details of the Evolution/intelligent design issue.

Virtual Museum of Natural History at http://www.curator.org