Our Friendly Neighbors

It was a warm, sunny, spring day. I decided to study outside instead of the library so I can enjoy the nice weather. Finding a place outside is not easy, but I went to the tables in front of The Underground and sat at a table. 

While I’m sitting there, I saw something. Little lizards running in and out of the walls next to me. One after another, they were chasing each other, fighting, and shuffling around my backpack and feet. It felt like I saw 100 lizards in 20 minutes. 

I couldn’t focus on my homework because I was just sitting there watching these little reptiles run everywhere. The rest of the day, I kept seeing more and more. When I was walking on the sidewalks they’d scurry under my feet and run up the stairs beside me. I mentioned it to a handful of friends and none of them had noticed the lizards that I was seeing EVERYWHERE. 

I am not an expert on animals at all. I could not tell you about different species, so I decided to search to see if anyone else is intrigued by these lizards. I searched “lizards in Lawrence, Kansas,” and the first result was an article from The University Daily Kansan. 

Italian Wall Lizards: a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. P. siculus is native to southern and southeastern Europe, but has also been introduced elsewhere in the continent, as well as North America, where it is a possible invasive species. 

After some more research, I learned an exotic pet store owner in Lawrence imported the lizards in the 1950s. When the owner died, it is unknown if the lizards escaped or were released. Either way they began breeding in any place they could find. In 2006 the first report of the lizards being on KU’s campus was recognized. 

I was relieved to find out I wasn’t going crazy and that there are 100s, maybe 1000s, that live on campus, specifically in stone walls like the one I sat by. The more I learned about these lizards, the more I wanted to tell everyone about them. People probably see them every once in a while but have no idea that they are so unique to us.

If the pet store owner had not imported them most of us would never see one in our lives. Unless you are looking closely while traveling in Southern Italy. There could be as many as them as there are students and we alike have made Lawrence into our place of living. 

So, if you’re walking around campus and see lizards with tiny legs and stripes on their back, you’ve met the Italian Wall Lizard. A not poisonous, not scary, not supposed to be here, now local of Lawrence.

• animals
• college
• lawrence
• life
• reptiles