- Rockhounding Saddle Mountain Washington For Petrified Wood (rockseeker.com)
Saddle Mountain, a remote and rocky ridge located in central Washington. These hills rise to 2700 feet and offer stunning views of the desert landscape and the Columbia River below. But that’s not all – the fossilized wood on these rugged hills contains a record of the area’s geological history. Petrified or opalized wood is the official gemstone of Washington, and Saddle Mountain is a treasure trove for rock enthusiasts who love agatized wood.
- Reptile (Wikipedia)
Reptiles, in common parlance, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic (‘cold-blooded’) metabolism and amniotic development. Living reptiles comprise four orders: Testudines (turtles), Crocodilia (crocodilians), Squamata (lizards and snakes), and Rhynchocephalia (the tuatara). As of May 2023, about 12,000 living species of reptiles are listed in the Reptile Database. The study of the traditional reptile orders, customarily in combination with the study of modern amphibians, is called herpetology.