Patricia Demizio, age 10, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, for her question:

How are lizards born?

We know of about 3,000 different lizards but not one of them can be rated as a really good mother. Most of the different species lay eggs and leave them to hatch for themselves in the warm ground. Lizard eggs usually are oval shaped and the shells are pale pliable skin, leathery and quite tough. The average lizard mother lays her eggs, then waddles off to enjoy a sunbath and forgets all about them. Sow species hatch in a few days, others wait several weeks. The youngsters are small copies of their parents and all ready to start living their own lives.

A few mother lizards incubate their eggs to keep them warm and protect them. If the eggs roll away, the mother gathers them close to her body again. In some species, the mother lizard keeps her eggs inside her body until the embryos are fully developed. After they hatch, she gives birth to live babies. The young may receive nourishment inside the mother's body. But no lizard feeds her young on mother's milk. And even those that bear live babies do not stay around to tend them.