From The Wonderful World of Animals
The Blue Tree Monitor (Varanus macraei) is a strikingly vibrant lizard renowned for its electric blue and black patterning. First described by science in 2001, it is considered one of the most beautiful and intelligent members of the monitor family.
Appearance: Its black body is covered in turquoise-blue “ocelli” (eye-like spots). It has a long, slender neck and a prehensile tail that is nearly twice its body length, used like a fifth limb for climbing.
Size: They can reach a total length of about 3.5 feet (1.1 meters), with males being slightly larger and more “muscular” than females.
Native Habitat: This species is found exclusively on the island of Batanta in Indonesia, a tiny area of only 450 km².
Intelligence: Highly alert and capable of problem- solving, these lizards have been observed using “puzzle boxes” in captivity to retrieve food.
Here’s a photo of a baby in a more flattering light.
That tail curl motion looks straight out of a Tim Burton flick.
You aren’t kidding! It’d fit right in.
Makes me wonder if that’s where Burton got that from
Art imitates lizards or something like that
In my previous life I died watching the tail curl and unfurl before being eaten whole.
I feel it in my soul.
Your previous self’s insights are probably correct.
I was trying to verify this was real, and this clip has been around for a while. Someone on r/reptiles said the tighter tail curls are a sign of either intense interest or aggravation, both of which may not bode well for what it is staring at.
They move pretty quickly and show great agility as well, which surprised me a bit.
They are beautiful creatures.
Like we previously talked about with the coelacanth, it’s hard to fathom just how long some of these creatures have been around being perfected over millions of generations! While many creatures may look odd in an age of mammals, some of these great old ones were tailored for a long-lost age, but with enough adaptability to have seen numerous forms of life come and go. It’s hard to imagine much more wonderous than that.
Did someone mix up left and right in the animation?
Uncanny! 😄
This is clearly a pokemon, psychic/electric type. It keeps inadvertently hypnotising children into hugging it. It is very lonely.
No, seriously, do they regularly do that tail thing? Does it serve a purpose? Off to find more videos.
That sounds like quite an OP Pokemon.
The tail’s main purpose seems to be locomotion, being able to grasp branches much further away than would otherwise be possible. They sound like they are almost completely arboreal, rarely taking to the ground, so that makes sense it would be the primary purpose. I also found a source saying that with the tail’s great mobility, they can strike with it as a defensive threat. Also, from skimming some reptile Reddit and herp forums trying to make sure this was real, it also looks to have some nonverbal communication uses like a dog or cat’s tail body language. It became popular in the pet trade very quickly, and within just a few years seems to have gone missing completely from one of the few small islands it exists on.
It became popular in the pet trade very quickly, and within just a few years seems to have gone missing completely from one of the few small islands it exists on.
Ah fuck, I was foolishly hoping that sentence would end in “the islands’ population has tripled through increased conservation efforts” or something. Humans suck.
They do seem to be doing more captive breeding now, as they sell for around $3,000-5,000, which, while probably not great, is still better than stealing all the wild ones. Hopefully some of that breeding experience can be used to help repopulate at some point.
I can’t remember ever seeing a blue tree, their job market must be terrible. I guess that’s why they’re so rare. Hopefully things get better for them.
I haven’t come across if the blue is a pigment or an effect of light refraction like with a blue jay where they aren’t actually blue, but more of a grey that plays tricks with light.
These pics are from this video where the photographer is out with scouts trying to find them in their natural habitat.
A lot also depends on how its prey or its own natural predators see color as well. If its food or predators can’t see blue, that isn’t going to be a detriment.
Bless your sweet innocent heart. Never change. :)
I often feel I’m trampling people’s jokes, but they make me think of serious questions and then I want answers for them. 😅
It’s a good question why the heck would it be blue!
I was jokingly misinterpreting “blue tree monitor” as their profession.
I don’t remember ever seeing a blue tree, so they must not have many to monitor, so maybe the high unemployment rate due to lack of blue trees in need of monitoring caused a lot of these poor lizards to die out. And that’s why they’re very rare lizards.
Ooooo. That is funnier than how I originally took it! I read it as the must not be good at hiding and that’s why there are so few since there are no blue trees.
The biggest drawback of text is that it’s all read back in the readers’ voice and thought process instead of the sender’s!
I thought that tail curl was one of those optical illusions that just keeps going on forever.
It does, the camera just can’t capture the tail after it slims down to a certain point. 😜
I don’t know if I’ve ever spent so much time trying to verify something was real for posting here. A couple of times I was ready to just forget about it to be safe, but it was also so compelling that I wanted it to be real! I’m glad it seems to be.
Very pretty and very very unnerving!
I’m with you on both of those points! 😅
This is giving me junji Ito vibes
So many messed up things in Uzumaki. I was disappointed they didn’t do so great on the recent adaptation.
