The photo shoot would have been a lot more enjoyable if I didn’t know they were going to kill the model at the end of it. He looked so handsome against the white, well-lit backdrop. The glowing box he was inside illuminated his long, elegant tail as he tilted his head inquisitively for his close-up. It’s for a good cause, “for science,” Luis Mazariegos PhD, reassured me. Earlier during lunch, the three park guards excitedly rushed back through the muck, disembarking from their fully swamped rubber boots at the entrance to the main lodge, placing an assortment of plastic containers on the table in front of us. They had found the lizards they were looking for: 6 specimens to be the representatives of a new species. I peered into the container to see their darkly colored scales, punctuated by a flashy racing stripe down the middle of their backs, extending all the way to the tip of their tapered, whip-like tails, fading from vibrant orange to sage green. Except, that is, for the fatter, older male who appeared to be in the process of growing his tail back. He clearly narrowly escaped death at least once already and what re-emerged as his tail looked more like a stubby wizard’s hat extending out behind him. @bioconservancy #thehummingbirdconservancy #newspecies #endemic #cloudforest #conservation #colombia #science (at Reserva Natural Mesenia - Paramillo) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHsWFfkhQoH/?igshid=18qyk316zjh0p
