I have had a life long passion for reptiles, which began as a toddler with an obsession with dinosaurs. As soon as I was old enough to go outside on my own I started chasing lizards and catching snakes. Everywhere I have gone I am always on the lookout to get my hands on and observe whatever beautiful reptilian species I may find. When I was accepted to come work for The Sloth Institute in Costa Rica I was not only excited to be working with sloths, which are amazing animals in their own right, but also because I would be in my first tropical county and have the opportunity to see some extraordinary reptilian wildlife. That is why after a few days of rest, I was felt so privileged to release the iguana we had rehabilitated at the lab. After lowering the enclosure and watching this gorgeous creature, one of Costa Rica’s grandest lizards, run free with ease I felt two things. I felt good that I was able to help out this iguana and send him back into the environment he calls home, but I also felt something more, I could feel a sense of childhood wonderment. While watching this lizard running down the road in my mind’s eye I could see this same scene playing out millions of years ago with an iguana like lizard running along the grass and great lumbering sauropods off in the distance. After a quick sprint down the road before running off out of sight I got one last glimpse of him. I saw his dark brown eyes, his frilly neck with a slightly teal colored head, and those prehistoric looking black and orange spikes running down his back all the way to the base of his spiked tail. A tail looking like it belong to that of a small dragon. Then off the road he went, and the inner dinosaur obsessed kid in me was happy.