Meet Uroplatus garamaso, a new leaf-tailed gecko from Madagascar!
Uroplatus garamaso are absolute masters of camouflage. During the day, they rest with their heads down and fringes expanded, rendering them practically invisible. Here, I have revealed the outline of the gecko against the tree trunk. As you can imagine, that makes them pretty difficult to spot in the wild.
Fortunately, at night, they wake up and prowl the branches, and can often be found up to a few metres off the ground hunting for invertebrates.
This remarkable gecko has been known about for over 20 years, and has even been in the pet trade for well over a decade. But only now have we finally amassed enough information on it to be able to formally describe it and give it a name. The trouble was that it is extremely similar to Uroplatus henkeli, which is also found nearby. The key to distinguishing them turned out to be the colour of the eye, and the tip of the tongue, which is pink in U. garamaso (left), and blackish in U. henkeli (right).
These geckos open their mouths as a warning signal, so looking at this feature is quite easy. But we are not sure why the mouth colour so often differs between species. Some more behavioural studies are needed.
The new species was described on 15 August 2023 in the Open Access journal Salamanadra. You can read the paper here.
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This was supposed to just be a rough sketch, but then I started getting really invested in it.
I hadn't initially intended to include so many picture book characters, but the nostalgia was overwhelming. Does anyone remember the animated short films produced by Weston Woods? My local library used to have a bunch of them on the Scholastic VHS tapes from the late 90s. (I know some shorts were released on the Children's Circle VHS tapes back in the 80s (🎶 Come on along! Come on along! Join the caravan!), and some were packaged in Sammy's Story Shop in 2008.)
Characters:
Max, from Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Peter, from The Snowy Day, written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats
Brother Bear and Sister Bear, from The Berenstain Bears series, written and illustrated by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Pooh and Piglet, from the Winnie-the-Pooh books, by A. A. Milne, illustrated by E. H. Shepard
Owen, from Owen, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes.
Mouse, from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Joffe Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
Louis, from The Trumpet of the Swan, by E. B. White
Mr. Toad, from The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, based on the illustrations by E. H. Shepard
Mr. Tumnus, from The Chronicles of Narnia series, by C. S. Lewis
Pippi and Mr. Nilsson, from the Pippi Longstocking books, by Astrid Lindgren
Willy Wonka, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl, based on the illustrations by Quentin Blake
Matilda, from Matilda, by Roald Dahl, based on the illustrations by Quentin Blake (with an homage to the Mara Wilson movie)
Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, from Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie
Merlin and Archimedes, from The Sword in the Stone, by T. H. White, based on the illustrations by Dennis Nolan
Pinocchio, from Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, based on the illustrations by Enrico Mazzanti
Alice, White Rabbit, and Cheshire Cat, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel
Rupert Bear, from the Rupert stories, created by Mary Tourtel and continued by Alfred Bestall, John Harrold, Stuart Trotter, and others.
Arthur Read, from the Arthur series, written and illustrated by Marc Brown
Tin Woodman and Scarecrow, from the Land of Oz series, by L. Frank Baum, based on the illustrations by W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill
The Cat in the Hat, from The Cat in the Hat, written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss
a frog on a flying lily pad, from Tuesday, written and illustrated by David Wiesner
Charlotte, from Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White
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Volendam, flapping laundry on the dike, Netherlands, 1947 - by Henk Jonker (1912 - 2002), Dutch
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Thirstiest non-Anglophone Phantoms: Part I
Inspired by @nerdywriter36's post on sluttiest Phantoms and @opera-ghost's post on "Jeremy Stolle heard 'slut' when the director called cut." here are some very slutty Phantoms from non-English language replicas.
In chronological order:
1. Henk Poort, Netherlands, 1993 (w/ Joke de Kruijf)
Solid boob grab AND face caress, sir.
2. Eiji Akutagawa, Japan, 1994
This is the famous "maneuver" and it lasts approximately 40 seconds.
3. Saulo Vasconcelos, Mexico, 2000 (w/Irrasema Terrazas)
Not his thirstiest moment but do it for the **magic hands**
4. Ethan Freeman, Germany, 2006 (w/Anne Görner)
Sir, you are on stage.
How the German Phantoms do not split their very tight pants every show is a mystery for the ages. You get two of Ethan because he is my comfort Phantom.
5. Dmitri Ermak, Russia, 2016 (w/Tamara Kotova)
No way this list was going to not have at least one Russian. The man looks like he's about to have Christine for dinner.
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