Hi, everyone! I know, the blog has been awfully quiet lately. That’s because Nate and I have been working hard to finish our PhD’s this spring — in fact, Nate is defending his dissertation later this week! Wish him luck!!!

We’re really excited to be on the brink of finishing our degrees, because we have a bunch of cool projects on the horizon. The first one is a book project that we think you’ll love. We’ve launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign to get the book off the ground, and we would be forever grateful for your contributions to the project! And whether you can help us financially or not, we would love your help in spreading the word about the project. You can learn more and donate on the Kickstarter page. but here’s a little blurb about the project.

We want to create a unique coffee-table book called The Symbol: Wall Lizards of the Pityusic Archipelago. The Ibiza Wall Lizard (Podarcis pityusensis) – a threatened species that’s only found on Ibiza and Formentera — is the symbol of these Spanish Mediterranean islands. The lizards appear in art, on clothing and postcards, and their images are on display in restaurants, hotels, and homes throughout the islands. Despite their iconic status, few people know much about the lizards, and there’s no place for tourists and locals to learn more about this fascinating species. The Ibiza Wall Lizard may have the greatest diversity of colors of any reptile — it can be from green, blue, orange, and even black! In fact, Nate has earned his PhD studying the evolution of color in this species. It’s also one of only a few lizard species worldwide that acts as a plant pollinator and seed disperser, so it plays a crucial role in the health of this island ecosystem. The Symbol will bring lizard folklore, biology, and conservation together in the first-ever book about the Ibiza Wall Lizard, complete with spectacular photos and engaging text. The book will be available in four languages – Spanish, English, German and Italian – the four most common languages of the islands. It will be a perfect souvenir for tourists, and a wonderful gift to the locals. By donating to our project, you’ll help make lizards synonymous with nature on these islands, and change the way people think about Ibiza’s reptilian icon forever!

Go to the Kickstarter page!