Spear Point Leaf Tail Gecko

Image: Antonio Rodríguez Arduengo
Uroplatus ebenaui

Demons get such a bad rap these days. And... all other days, I suppose. But look at this cutie! Surely he wouldn't hurt a fly!

Image: Alextelford

Hmm? Oh. Turns out he would eat a fly. OK.

Image: Frank Vassen

But I bet he does it in the cutest way possible! The flies last thoughts would be something like, "This is actually kind of adorable. It's way better than getting eaten by a spider."

Image: Frank Vassen

The Spear Point Leaf Tail Gecko is a member of the genus Uroplatus, the same as the Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko (U. phantasticus). While it's great that one species got the moniker, to me they're all equally and wonderfully Satanic!

This species is found only in a tiny patch of northern Madagascar, as well as just off the coast on the even tinier and delightfully named island of Nosy Be.

Image: Antonio Rodríguez Arduengo

They hang out in the trees, using their amazing camouflage to hide in plain sight during the day. At night, they wake up to hunt insects.

Image: Antonio Rodríguez Arduengo

The Spear Point gets their name from their tiny little tail which looks like something someone dug up from an ancient battlefield.

Image: Rob Meades

Despite that miniature tail, the Spear Point Leaf Tail Gecko is the biggest species in Uroplatus. It still only reaches about 7.5 cm (3 in) long, though. That's probably a good thing...

Image: Cédric de Foucault

You wouldn't want a face like that looming over you!

The Blues VII

Image: Cláudio Dias Timm
Porphyrospiza caerulescens

Uh oh! It's that time of year again when all looks lost, all looks cold, all looks... blue. Blue Monday strikes again. The attic groans under the weight of Christmas decorations already laden with a thin layer of dust. Christmas gifts have lost their lustre and joined the rest of your belongings as mere possessions cluttering your life. And if you don't follow through with your New Year's resolutions this time, you'll have to get a new Christmas jumper to ease over that ever-expanding belly.

But worry not! Or continue worrying, just be sure to do it with friends. Friends like the Blue Finch.

Namib Web-footed Gecko

Image: Matthias Neuhaus
Pachydactylus rangei

The Namib Web-footed Gecko is an adorable little lizard that isn't... all there.

Iguana

Image: Artur Pedziwilk
Iguana iguana

There are Marine Iguanas, Desert Iguanas, Land Iguanas and Rock Iguanas, but if anything can be called, quite simply, The Iguana, then this is it.

Fish-scale Gecko

Image: Arthur Anker

Look at those scales! It's not a mere suit of armour, it's a suit of shields!

The Blues VI

Image: Bernard DUPONT
Corythaeola cristata

It's Blue Monday! Mathematically proven to be the most depressing day of the year by qualified PR professionals who believe the best way to defeat it is with a holiday package bought from their clients. But there's no defeating it. It looms. It impends. It soon comes to a dark night of the soul near YOU! And there are no holidays from one's own soul.

Mangrove Cat Snake

Image: Rushen
Boiga dendrophila

It's an 8 foot wasp! Thank goodness it doesn't have wings.

And the Number of the Hallowe'en Horrors is 666

Its Halloween! That time of year when we draw black waters from the well of cosmic truth with death, draw deep breaths of chill, grave-leaden mist with darkness, and draw white, chalk outlines around corpses in the alleyway with evil. Woo!

Behold Death. He's wearing his Loch Ness Monster costume this year. Basically it's a dark green robe, a dark green handle for his scythe and a kind of lizard mask on the blade. It looks great and boy is he committed to the role. We've been trying to get him out of the swimming pool for hours!

Here be Darkness. She's been trying to teach the zombies about the miraculous power of make-up. I don't think it's going too well. Lipstick is supposed to stick to lips, not the other way round. There's bits of face everywhere!

Yonder is Evil. He's dressed up in a long, white robe with a little cardboard halo fixed onto his head with a piece of wire. He does that every year but it's hilarious every time!

Jewelled Chameleon

Image: Bernard DUPONT
Furcifer campani

Camouflage?

What camouflage?

Kinabalu Crested Dragon

Image: Bernard DUPONT
Hypsicalotes kinabaluensis

I love miniature dragons! So much more convenient than the full-sized ones, wouldn't you agree?

Barking Gecko, Ptenopus

Image: Bernard DUPONT

Geckos. That bark!

The Blues V

Image: Hiyashi Haka
Lamprotornis caudatus

It's time for the blues! Either that or I'm a week late... Oh dear. Failure upon failure! Blues upon blues! Well, I guess it makes sense, really. Blues are eternal, after all. Haven't you heard? It's blues all the way down! At least on this page...

Strike of the Spider's Snake

Image: Omid Mozaffari
Pseudocerastes urarachnoides

Weird animal friendships. The crow and the cat. The fox and the cat. The owl and the cat. The human and the cat. Also the elephant and the ostrich, but stuff like that doesn't involve a cat. I heard that whenever love manages to get through a cat's haughty disinterest, an angel gets its wings.

Knob-tailed Gecko

Image: Michael Sale

Awwww! I don't know if Knob-tailed Geckos are wonky and cute or just wonky!

Flying Dragon

Image: Psumuseum

*GASP* It's a dragon! A mighty, fire-breathing dragon of yore with teeth like daggers and eyes like embers. Look at his fearsome claws, his lashing tail, his majestically curved neck. He's spreading his majestic wings like a scaly but also majestic banner of unearthly power. Watch him take to the air with majestic flaps of the aforementioned majestic wings. I've never seen a majestic flap before but it's oh so very majestic.

Crested Chameleon

Image: Bernard DUPONT

As if chameleons weren't weird enough already, they go all Spinosaurus on us.

Sungazer

Image: Joachim S. Müller
Smaug giganteus

SPIKES!

Arabian Toad-headed Agama

Image: Tamsin Carlisle
Phrynocephalus arabicus

After focusing so much on the Secret Toadhead's weird face, I thought it would be nice to take another look at fun, toadhead tail!

Black Lava Lizard

Image: Arthur Chapman
Tropidurus melanopleurus

Isn't this how it usually works in computer games?

The Black Lava Lizard is small and throws stones at you. The Yellow Lava Lizard looks identical but it's slightly bigger and sets the stones on fire before throwing them at you. And the Red Lava Lizard is even bigger but it breathes fire.

Secret Toadhead Agama

Image: Antoshin Konstantin
Phrynocephalus mystaceus

Ew!

You should've kept that a secret!