Wiping out the roaches. Iberian wall lizard

There is still hope for cockroach despisers. Iberian wall lizard (la lagartija) can defeat these seemingly invincible beasts that invade your apartment with relative ease, ready to make a meal out of them. They may also be a nuisance, no argument here, but there are two ends of every rainbow, however.

Small lizard eating an insect entered its host's (so to say) place. Photo by Paul Pen

How could one possibly smash a small lizard with a boot knowing that it may be almost the only being willing to take care of the disgusting up to 7,5 cm long roaches that have put such hurt on man? I couldn't, sure thing. I prefer the lagartijas any time over any other animals interested in the roaches; be that invertebrates, reptiles or mammals. 

Small lizard eating a cockroach. Photo by HolzCL

I admire them for the way they are. For their skittery yet graceful presence on the streets and walls of the cities and villages in Andalusia, for serving a temporary decoration on white paint and for putting life into breathless heat-beaten late afternoon wanderers, anxious to smash them, though.

Lizard street art in Málaga. Photo by Carlos Pérez Torres; see more on www.ymalaga.com

Here's a book recommendation for those who read Spanish: “El Baile de las Lagartijas”, a 2011 novel by David de Juan Marcos, a young Salamancan writer, graduated in Biology.