needed for basic cellular / neural functioning as well as the utilization of calcium for bone and egg production. The UVA wavelength is also visible to many reptiles and might play a significant role in their ability survive in the wild as well as in visual communication between individuals. Therefore, in a typical reptile enclosure, a fluorescent UV a/b source (at the proper strength / spectrum for the species), must be available for many captive species to survive. Simple supplementation with cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) will not be enough as there's a complete biosynthetic pathway that is "leapfrogged" (risks of possible overdoses), the intermediate molecules and metabolites also play important functions in the animals health. Natural sunlight in the right levels is always going to be superior to artificial sources, but this might not be possible for keepers in different parts of the world. It is a known problem that high levels of output of the UVa part of the spectrum can both cause cellular and DNA damage to sensitive parts of their bodies – especially the eyes where blindness is the result of an improper UVa/b source use and placement photokeratitis. For many keepers there must also be a provision for an adequate heat source this has resulted in the marketing of heat and light "combination" products. Keepers should be careful of these "combination" light/ heat and UVa/b generators, they typically emit high levels of UVa with lower levels of UVb that are set and difficult to control so that animals can have their needs met. A better strategy is to use individual sources of these elements and so they can be placed and controlled by the keepers for the max benefit of the animals. Evolutionary significance The evolution of early reproductive proteins and enzymes is attributed in modern models of evolutionary theory to ultraviolet radiation. UVB causes thymine base pairs next to each other in genetic sequences to bond together into thymine dimers, a disruption in the strand that reproductive enzymes cannot copy. This leads to frameshifting during genetic replication and protein synthesis, usually killing the cell. Before formation of the UV-blocking ozone layer, when early prokaryotes approached the surface of the ocean, they almost invariably died out. The few that survived had developed enzymes that monitored the genetic material and removed thymine dimers by nucleotide excision repair enzymes. Many enzymes and proteins involved in modern mitosis and meiosis