If Galileo used mathematics to measure Dante’s Hell, why can’t I use ecology to count biblical lizards?

Author: Julián Monge Nájera, Ecologist and Photographer.

Galileo Galilei was obviously in a humorous mood when he used mathematics to measure the hell described in the Divine Comedy. The subject was not real, but the calculations were valid and didactical. King Solomon probably did not exist, but following Galileo, here I apply ecological principles to the lizards and palace described in biblical texts.

The Mediterranean House Lizard, Hemidactylus turcicus. Source: Wikipedia.

There are whole books about the animals mentioned in biblical texts, and in many cases, the identities of those animals cannot be settled. This is worsened by the fact that the texts have been extensively modified and mistranslated, and that many books have been eliminated from the collection over the years by different sects. The biblical book of proverbs has traditionally been attributed to King Solomon, but probably Solomon is just a “wise king” archetype and did not exist in real life ¹, ².

In any case, whoever wrote “Lizards—they are easy to catch, but they are found even in kings’ palaces” (Proverbs 30:28, New Living Translation) was aware of the contradiction that kings, despite their power over life and death, could not get rid of this small house pest, the lizard. 

My first question about this text was: Which was the lizard that the biblical writer knew?

Of around 20 species of small lizards currently found in Israel and Palestine, the most likely species is the Mediterranean house lizard, Hemidactylus turcicus, and the reason is that this is the only lizard in the region known to live steadily in human buildings.

Of course, we cannot be certain, but assuming I got the species right, we have a good deal of knowledge about this species. They produce several two-egg clutches from March to August, sometimes in communal nesting areas. They are most active from March to November. The males have a high-pitched call, similar to a squeak, with territorial and maybe also courtship functions³. 

This answers the question of how and when they reproduce, but many more questions can be asked, and here I will also answer a question inspired by the work of Galileo Galilei. 

In 1588, a young Galileo lectured the Florentine Academy about the size of hell as described in Dante´s Divine Comedy. The subject was not real, but the calculations were valid and didactical⁴.

Hidden in the dark, house lizards lived and reproduced in the palaces of biblical kings.

Image: The Judgment of Solomon, by Valentin de Boulogne (1591–1632). Source: Wikimedia.

Following Galileo, I wanted to use ecological knowledge to calculate the size of a lizard population in the fictitious Palace of King Solomon. I hope you find the simple calculation educational:

If they had the same density that they reach today, 478 lizards per hectare⁵, in a 0.099-hectare palace (1 Kings 7:2-3), the population could have reached a stable size around 50 individuals (478X0,099=47). 

I am not saying that Solomon or his palace existed, they are almost certainly fiction¹, ², but this fiction shows the enormous power of science to predict how things would be if certain conditions existed.

Religious texts can mix anecdotes, popular sayings, short stories, poems, myths, legends, and official documents; they are not scientific sources, but they open a door to the world of their writers. This particular paragraph connects us to someone who, thousands of years ago, did not fail to notice that lizards were unwanted house dwellers and that they were strongly resistant to pest control.

Mediterranean House Geckos can carry the dangerous Salmonella enterica, which produced millions of deaths during the Cocoliztli Pandemia of Mexico (1576).

Image: Mictlantecuhtli, Aztec God of Death. Source: Wikimedia.

*Edited by Zaidett Barrientos, Katherine Bonilla y Carolina Seas.

Originally published  in Blog Biología Tropical: 16 September 2020

REFERENCES

¹ Millard, A. R. (1991). Texts and archaeology: weighing the evidence. The case for King Solomon. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 123(1), 19-27.

² Finkelstein, I., & Silberman, N. A. (2006). Temple and dynasty: Hezekiah, the remaking of Judah and the rise of the pan-Israelite ideology. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 30(3), 259-285.

³ Ibrahim, A. A. (2007). Ecology of the Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Reptilia: Gekkonidae), in North Sinai, Egypt. Zoology in the Middle East, 41(1), 41-54. 

⁴ Angelini, A., Magnaghi-Delfino, P., Norando, T. (2014). Galileo Galilei’s location, shape and size of Dante’s Inferno: an artistic and educational project. Aplimat—Journal of Applied Mathematics.

⁵ Locey, K. J., & Stone, P. A. (2006). Factors Affecting Range Expansion in the Introduced Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicu. Journal of Herpetology, 40(4), 526-530.