Animals in the News (The Atlantic)

Shoot'im Elizabet shoot'im

Funny

what a jackass.

This is a thread about reptiles and in particular geckos of the genus Uroplatus. What do you know about them?

Apparently embarrassed about a complete lack of ken in this field you find the need to post a completely off point political post about elephant hunting. This apparently is yet another topic you have zero background or knowledge in, but feel the need to form strong opinions about.

In the image your activist ass deemed relevant depicts the death of a lone and geriatric bull elephant. See the giant tusks? That is only possible in very old animals. An individual elephant that was destined to die of others causes very soon. The hunting of this animal by Mr. Makris only served to shorten the agony suffered by the this majestic beast.

It also put $500,000 into the local economy, and 3,000 pounds of high protein, low fat sustenance into the stomachs of local villagers. Hunting in Africa is worthwhile on many levels. I have illustrated two. i doubt your brain will understand this next point but I'll give it a shot anyways. Poaching of elephants is currently at an all time low. This because of the advent of sport hunting in southern Africa. Hunters bring hundreds of millions of dollars directly into the wilds of African nations. The tag fees and all that goes with this is put directly into the local economy. The locals get the meat for free (hunters cannot transport meat to the USA) and jobs provided by the various hunting related enterprises. All of these benefits considered; locals now act as neighborhood watch in the effort to stop poachers. In fact; the success of this economy is evidenced by the desperate move of poachers to poison waterholes recently.

While you and your socialist/progressive/liberal counterparts can swoon over the death of a single aged elephant; I will be rejoicing in the knowledge that Loxodonta africana will remain common and flourish within the economy of legal hunting.

That is this; you can worry about one organism, hunters will worry about the species; this so you can still focus on the individuals. That is, you need hunters, otherwise you would have nothing to complain about.

Another huge favorite in the family of Malagasy Leaf Tailed Geckos is the dry/dead leaf mimic - (Uroplatus phantasticus)

I illustrate this species here with an image borrowed from wikipedia.



I love the tail edges broken as a dead leaf. This is present in every specimen and unique to that individual as a fingerprint in humans.

Helen, you really screwed up this time. That is the worst jump topic I have seen on here. I used to hunt so seeing the dead elephant is not a problem but pushing your s$$t in a topic like this is just you being mean. That is all it can be. If you want to post dead elephants start a new thread. If you have a deep desire to be mean go kick your own ass somewhere else,
Jim

I thought perhaps you'd like to see the tail of another phantasticus

I got more. Madagascar has the world's most bizarre reptiles. I hope Jean wont mind.

Black Eyed Gecko (Paroedura masobe)


Minimum Chameleon (Brookesia minima)


Armored Chameleon (Brookesia perarmata)


Sexually dimorphic leaf snake (Langaha nasuta)


There are more. Fully aquatic lizards. Fist sized frogs. Thumbnail sized frogs the color of carrots......

Jean won't mind one tiny bit, LOL!  Thank you for every last one of those, Scott.   The Malagasy leaf-tailed ones are fantastic!  More, please?

Jean asked for more. Here we go. Here are a few more geckos

Most geckos are nocturnal. That is they are active at night. But Madagascar has a huge group of day geckos.I'll begin this photo essay with the quintessential Malagasy Day Gecko (Phelsuma madagascarensis). This picture may be rotated 90 degrees. The usual posture is head down ready to pounce on a bug or smaller gecko


The Genus is found mostly in Madagascar but also on other Mascarene islands, such as Comorros Island. (Phelsuma robertmertensi)


The next species is found on Mauritius, land of the Dodo. (Phelsuma cepediana). Oddly enough they also may be found on the big island of Hawaii at the Honolulu Zoo and surrounding neighborhoods. My deceased friend Sean McKeown is rumored to have put them there for his own enjoyment. He never admitted such to me.


For my last gecko today I will go back to Madagascar. No Phelsuma Phreak could ever be without having a Neon dayGecko (Phelsuma klemmeri)