Slow-worm

We ran into a slow-worm on our little trip! Very exciting for the kids! Natalie has never seen one before and was not familiar with the name. It gave us a chuckle. It's a wordplay and it doesn't make sense in English, so I'll have to add a little Norwegian story this time:

- Se, Natalie! Det er en stålorm.

- Oj! En kålorm.

- Nei, en ssssssstålorm.

- Å ja. En skålorm!

I think the English name slow-worm is kind of interesting. Maybe it got its name because it actually is a legless lizard? Because it is certainly not slow. Although these lizards are often mistaken for snakes, there are a number of features that differentiate them from snakes. The most important is they have small eyes with eyelids that blink like lizards. This is a feature that is not found in snakes. They may also have visible ears like lizards do, which snakes do not have. They shed their skin in patches like other lizards, rather than the whole skin as most snakes do. Adult slow-worms grow to be about 50 cm long and are known for their exceptionally long life; it has been said that a slow-worm is the longest living lizard, living about thirty years in the wild.