Comments on: Tiny, adorable lizard is tiny, adorable

By: Kimmo

Kimmo — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:13:00 +0000

Look, I know lizard have lungs, man. Lizards get a lot bigger than 100g, so I don’t see much abiguity in my post…

But hey, now I google it, aren’t those spiracles nifty. They need some pretty efficient packaging of surface area even down there under 100g…

By: Probiers Malaus

Probiers Malaus — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:44:00 +0000

I’m curious: Are they described already? Could you point out the species? What’s he doing there, working for MoBot/MNHN by any chance?

By: Probiers Malaus

Probiers Malaus — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:37:00 +0000

Hope you’re not going, then. You might the last of it’s kind.
Literally. And, btw: there’s nearly nothing dangerous om Madagascar. Even the scorpions just sting like a bee, nothing harmful. No poisonous snakes, no dangerous animals (exept some lazy introduced crocodiles, and some tiger sharks, but currents make it near to impossible to swim and surf, anyway).

By: Probiers Malaus

Probiers Malaus — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Ralf, to see if it’s a new species you would have a) to check his hemipenae if it’s a male and/or b) check some microsatellite DNA. ;)
However, the photo is nice. And there are loads of potentielly undiscovered species which would need a lot (and then a lot more) of work to be described in the first place – and then, possibly, protected. Same is true for plants and a hell of other animals. Try seaching for “biopat” on the web – you could sponsor some taxonomists doing that essential work.

By: Probiers Malaus

Probiers Malaus — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Kimmo, reptiles (including birds) do not breathe with their skin. Neither do insects. (There are, FYI, a lot of insects which actively breathe.)

By: Rose Anthony

Rose Anthony — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:28:00 +0000

It’s amazing how many animal species are discovered each year and how many we have yet to discover. P.S. I WANT

By: Rose Anthony

Rose Anthony — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:21:00 +0000

sorry what is the authors full name on that book, I want to read it now 0.0

By: gwailo_joe

gwailo_joe — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:24:00 +0000

I, for one, welcome our tiny, adorable chameleon overlords…

We’ll need about 10 trillion…with wings. And venom.

By: jwkrk

jwkrk — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:12:00 +0000

Very neat, and the recent discovery of tiny frogs makes me wonder…can birds & mammals scale down to that size? Is it possible to have a viable bird the size of a house fly? If not, what are the limiting factors?

By: we_the_people324

we_the_people324 — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:32:00 +0000

Cute, harmless. Thats what they want you to think. In 3 million years those fuckers will be the size of dinosaurs preying on those who once mocked their comical size. Never fuck with reptiles.

By: Kimmo

Kimmo — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:21:00 +0000

Yeah, surprising to see the architechture’s still viable at that scale; although I guess it’s down to the fact that vertebrates have a far more developed and adaptable design than insects…

For instance, since they breathe with their skin, the non-linearity of surface area to mass ratio versus size means their respiration doesn’t really work above 100g. But anyone who’s studied much biology knows something of the mind-bogglingly tiny and intricate scale life operates on, so it’s not that astounding; the building blocks are fairly minute…

By: Noctilucent Studios

Noctilucent Studios — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:13:00 +0000

How do you discover something that small without stepping on it first?

By: Kimmo

Kimmo — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:06:00 +0000

LOL

By: Kimmo

Kimmo — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:04:00 +0000

Heh, Babble - it's Babel.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:20:00 +0000

I’ve been squeeing over these things for about two days now. SO CUTE.

By: Jeb Adams

Jeb Adams — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:19:00 +0000

Tiny chameleon says, “Please don’t light this match.”

By: MrsBug

MrsBug — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:20:00 +0000

So kind of like the reptile version of the Babble Fish, right?

By: MrsBug

MrsBug — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:20:00 +0000

ACK! Cyoot-ded

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

B: A chameleon pretending it’s a fingernail.

C: A chameleon pretending it’s a matchhead.

D: A chameleon pretending it’s a forest.

By: zachstronaut

zachstronaut — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:29:00 +0000

Now normally anything that small crawling on me in Madagascar I would panic and flick off me immediately. But I wouldn’t dream of hurting that cute little thing. This poses quite the challenge for my brain. Can I find the patience to actually pause and assess whether the creepy crawly is a cute lizard or not.

By: Felton / Moderator

Felton / Moderator — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:49:00 +0000

If you stare at the image long enough, the chameleon will appear.

By: guanto

guanto — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:47:00 +0000

I want to see the not-yet-discovered tiny, tiny insects this chameleon eats.

By: Layne

Layne — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:44:00 +0000

I love pic ‘D’ – is that supposed to be a shot of the chameleon in its natural setting?

“Oooh – I see it! Wait… no…”

By: Foxymoron

Foxymoron — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:43:00 +0000

Why do I keep thinking Sea Monkeys?

By: gerardwhelan

gerardwhelan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:20:00 +0000

like Niles says on Frasier, you have to be diligent with those cuticles

By: Felipe Esquivel Reed

Felipe Esquivel Reed — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:52:00 +0000

That’s a huge finger!

By: suede

suede — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:12:00 +0000

F*^*king miniature chameleons, how do they work?!?!

By: Tess

Tess — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:39:00 +0000

Nope, but possibly for a slightly different reason… ;)

By: hamishmacdonald

hamishmacdonald — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:39:00 +0000

How can it be?! How can it have a brain?

Marvellous!

By: Ralf Reinecke

Ralf Reinecke — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:28:00 +0000

I was in northern Madagascar last year and found loads of the tiny chameleons (in the earth at the foot of bigger rainforest trees – too bad I wasnt aware that it was an undiscovered species on my thumb… LOL

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/251449_10150205979547902_738097901_7007419_5574564_n.jpg