Reptile Awareness Day: Celebrating and protecting Earth’s creepiest creatures

While Halloween is all about ghouls, goblins, ghosts, witches and warlocks, October 21 also celebrates creepy creatures. It’s Reptile Awareness Day, an annual “holiday” that shines the spotlight on reptiles of all shapes and sizes. This annual event not only gives reptile lovers a special day of the year to celebrate reptiles, but also raises awareness about the importance of reptiles and the threats some of them face.

From snakes and lizards to tortoises and crocodiles, there are more than 6,500 known species of reptiles. Some of these cold-blooded creatures spend the majority of their time in water and others spend the majority of their time on land. While slithering snakes may not be your animal of choice, reptiles are vital to our eco-system. And like many other creatures that inhabit the planet, habitat loss, pollution, climate change, disease, illegal pet trade and hunting/smuggling threaten some of the species. It is estimated that more than 300 reptile species are considered threatened or endangered today.

Reptiles have been roaming the earth for millions of years. It is up to us to protect them.