Recent Fox Attacks in Maine May Be Due to New Rabies Strain

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citrus bearded dragon :: Article Creator

Naked Bearded Dragons Reveal Where Vertebrates Got Their Coats

This story appears in the October 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine.

From scales to feathers to fur, vertebrates clothe themselves in a dazzling variety of textures and hues. But scientists have shown that many of those coverings emerge from the same anatomical hardware.

Biologists have long known that feathers and hairs both start as structures called placodes. In reptiles, however, biologists had found distinct skin areas that yielded scales but no placodes. The absence proved puzzling, since birds are more closely related to reptiles than to mammals. Had birds and mammals evolved placodes independently? Or had today's reptiles discarded them?

Then University of Geneva biologist Michel Milinkovitch visited an Italian animal fair, found scaleless, "naked" bearded dragons for sale—and a third scenario emerged. When he compared the naked lizards and their scaly kin, he saw to his shock placode-like bumps dotting the skin of scaled embryos. Naked embryos, however, stayed smooth.

In 2016 Milinkovitch announced that the bumps were indeed placodes, placing the structures in reptiles', birds', and mammals' common ancestors more than 300 million years ago. And since placodes buzz with genes that also sculpt teeth and fish scales, some scientists think that placodes arose in the earliest vertebrates—a "remarkable conservatism," argues Université Grenoble Alpes biologist Danielle Dhouailly, going back 420 million years.

Milinkovitch also found that naked bearded dragons lack scales because they're missing working copies of a gene crucial to placode formation. As he noted with a chuckle, that brings his discovery full circle: "This animal doesn't have scales, because it cannot make what people thought didn't exist in reptiles."


Missing Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner Thanks To Fairfax Police

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — A missing bearded dragon was reunited with its owner on Wednesday thanks to the intervention of the City of Fairfax Police.

On Tuesday, Officer Emerson trapped the lizard in a city resident's garden off of Richard Avenue and transported it to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter.

The lizard's owner, Everett Vann Eberhardt II, saw a social media post with a picture of Emerson holding his missing reptile, Mary Ormand.

"She's named after the famous pirate Blackbeard's wife, as she had a partner with a black beard when I first adopted her," he said.

After contacting the shelter, Eberhardt said planned to pick her up on Wednesday.

"She escaped from the Fairfax Villa neighborhood and travelled all the way to Fairfax City, it took her approximately a week to get there," he told Patch on Wednesday morning. "Although she runs free, often, in the yard she would always come home and we assume she lost her way and couldn't find her home on Melissa Court."

During that week, Mary Ormand traveled approximately 3 miles from Eberhardt's yard to the garden of a homeowner on Richard Avenue.

"Until OFC Emerson captured her, she'd been on a great adventure through the City of Fairfax," Eberhardt said.

It took Mary Ormand, the missing bearded dragon, a week to travel the 3 miles from a yard on Melissa Court in the Fairfax Villa neighborhood to the garden on Richard Avenue where a City of Fairfax Police officer captured her on Tuesday. (Google Maps)

Bearded Dragon Found Dumped In Communal Bin

Image caption,

The bearded dragon was found discarded in a bin at a student accommodation residence in Edinburgh

A bearded dragon was rescued by the Scottish SPCA after being found dumped in a bin.

The six month old reptile was spotted by a shocked staff member at a student accommodation residence in Edinburgh.

A number of international students had recently moved out and it is believed that one of them left the lizard behind.

Despite being abandoned in a communal bin, the bearded dragon is said to be in good condition after being rescued.

The Bearded Dragon in a clear case

Image source, Scottish SPCA Image caption,

The Bearded dragon was found to be unharmed despite its misadventure in the rubbish

Scottish SPCA senior animal rescue officer Sarah Auldsmith said that because the international students have now retuned overseas, the organisation has no way to trace them.

"We appreciate people's circumstances can change but this is not the right way to deal with an animal you can no longer care for," she said.

"Thankfully, the reptile was unharmed and they have now been taken to one of our animal rescue and rehoming centres to receive the care they need."

Bearded dragons are native to Australia but are one of the most popular lizards in captivity in the UK and usually live for 10 or 15 years.

Ms Auldsmith said that due to the condition it was in when it was found last week at the accommodation on Hillside Crescent, it had clearly been cared for before being discarded.

If anyone is concerned about an animal, they can contact the Scottish SPCA on their confidential animal helpline on 03000 999 999.





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