The tale of Green Fruit Loop the anole lizard is an epic one, as tales about lizards go. GFL began life somewhere in the southern half of the country, apparently as a wild lizard. She made the amazing journey from being a wild lizard hanging out in a field to living in a reptile habitat in an elementary school science lab.

It’s not unusual to find insects and small animals in your food: unfortunately, they like lettuce, spinach, and tatsoi even more than we do. NJ.com reports that GFL ended up bundled up in some tatsoi greens, then was refrigerated, putting her in a hibernation-like state. Then a New Jersey family purchased that bundle of greens, brought it home, and went to make a salad a few days later.

They were surprised to discover the lizard and even more surprised to discover that it was alive. They didn’t freak out, but brought it to their kindergartener’s elementary school, where the science lab teacher happened to be familiar with this species of lizard, how to care for it, and what it eats.

After a while, the unconscious and gray lizard recovered, and is now running, eating, and ready to serve as the mascot for the school’s science lab. Animals-in-food stories usually have very unhappy endings, and we’re very glad to share this one exception.

Green anole lizard found in salad greens from N.J. store becomes class mascot [NJ.com] (Thanks, Frances!)

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