it doesn't add up ...

The other day, I was reading some blog or another ... and there was a photo of something that looked like a snake, but the person called it a "slow worm" ... so ... "curiosity killed the cat" and all that - I googled it ... no it isn't a snake, or a worm ... it is actually a legless lizard (and quite an interesting creature) - so I am now happy in the knowledge that the person who took the photo/wrote that blog post does know what she/he was holding in their hand, and I know it isn't a snake, and he/she isn't about to remove themself from the gene pool because they thought that all long brown things in the garden were worms ...

but ... when I read the entry on Wikipedia - here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anguis_fragilis

I got a bit worried about this bit ...

"it has been said that a slow-worm is the longest living lizard, living about thirty years in the wild and up to fifty-four years in captivity (this record is held by a male slow worm that lived at the Copenhagen Zoo from 1962 to 2009) "

er ... ok ... so the one at that zoo lived for 54 years? No I am not worried that a lizard can live that long, but ... it was born in 1962 - the same year I was ... and is either still alive or died this year ... either way it has been alive for about the same time I have ... eek! - am I THAT old?!!!!! ... have I lost a few years? ... have I actually been older than I thought I was all this time? ... I might feel like I am 54 sometimes ... but I am NOT - LOL
Methinks someone can't add up ... or can't coun't ... or made a typo or something.

Yes - a very good reminder that even though you find something on the www, even on a site with a good reputation/etc - it isn't always a totally accurate source of information.
(but try telling a high school student that! LOL)

... and now that you know what year I was born - you can do the maths and work out how old I am (or how old I will be when I have my birthday later in the year - lol)

hmmm what a pity I live in the wrong country to find slow worms in MY vegetable garden ... they look so interesting ...