NEW YORK - A tiny green lizard found by a New Jersey kindergarten student in a bundle of chilled salad greens at home has wriggled its way into the hearts of an entire elementary school classroom, which adopted it as a mascot.
The three-inch (7.6-cm) critter went unnoticed for a few days in the refrigerator in Princeton, New Jersey, before Sally Mabon and her daughter Faye found its limp body while unwrapping a bunch of tatsoi, an Asian leaf, the Newark Star Ledger reported on Tuesday.
Warmth restored its energy and soon the anole lizard was on its way to Riverside Elementary School, where it caught "oohs" and "aahs," like flies, and quickly became the class pet.
Less Godzilla and more Geico Gecko, the lizard has been named "Green Fruit Loop," by the students.
A produce manager for Whole Earth Center, where Mabon bought the tatsoi, said the greens were cleaned as they were stocked and the lizard likely stowed away in a leaf, the Star Ledger said. The creature traveled from Florida, the newspaper said.Both Riverside Elementary School and Whole Earth Center declined to immediately comment on the lizard lurking in the greens.