Lost For 50 Years, Delightfully Weird Pinocchio Lizard Reappears In Ecuador
Pinocchio Lizard Alejandro Artega / Tropical Herping The Pinocchio lizard, horned anole, or Pinocchio anole (Anolis proboscis) was discovered in Ecuador in 1953. Sometime in the 1960s, we lost track of it, and for decades it was assumed to have gone extinct. But it was seen again in 2005, and a few times since then, and now, reptile- and amphibian-focused ecotourism group Tropical Herping has managed to snag one and observe it for a whole day. Which means we get to look at pictures of one of the weirdest lizards on the planet! The Pinocchio lizard is native, we think, to a tiny area around one small road near the Ecuadorian town of Mindo. It's become an odd sort of white whale for researchers; the (excellent) anole research blog Anole Annals routinely features stories about the creature. Mindo is a popular...