Everything you need to know

This morning, my 1st grader was awake earlier than he needed to be.  Still fuzzy from sleep and rubbing his eyes, he climbed into bed with me and snuggled under the covers.  I love these cozy early morning snuggles with my youngest.  I know that time is fleeting and in the blink of an eye he will be sleeping late and our early cuddle sessions will be reduced to pleasant memories.

This morning, he brought me a book to read.

This book.

Everything you need to know about SNAKES and Other Scaly Reptiles.

Can I just say?  When I first read the title I thought it said ...Other Scary Reptiles.

Anyway!  As soon as I read that title I was immediately struck with an all-consuming desire to know, well, everything I needed to know about snakes.  And other scaly (or scary, as the case may be) reptiles.  I need to know what I need to know.  So I'll know it.  Because I need to.  Know it.

So far, I need to know (and presumably you need to know as well, since I doubt DK took the time to write the book just for me), that the reptile family tree includes tortoises and turtles, crocodilians, dinosaurs, tuatara, lizards, and snakes.  Birds are not considered reptiles, but have roots in the reptile family tree as well.

{Source}

I also need to know that there are lizards larger than a man and others smaller than a fingernail (Bubby and I compared fingernails.  His are much smaller than mine, but either way, that's one small lizard).

Additionally, I need to know that 60 million years ago, there lived a snake, named Titanoboa, that was as long as a school bus and weighed as much as 20 people.  I didn't know they even had school busses back then.  Then again, some of the school busses I've been on looked like they might have been about that old...  Some people in Canada made a life-size robotic Titanoboa.  To study how it moved.

So many things I/we/everyone needs to know.  And we're only on page 11.

I'll report back when I know more.  Of the things I need to know.  Because we're all about educating the public here, and these are things you need to know, too.  I'm certain of it.