Lizards

Museums often celebrate new acquisitions, especially something rare or historic. In April 2024, scientists from the Natural History Museum of Jamaica and The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus accepted a very rare and historic specimen: a 16-inch lizard called the Jamaican giant galliwasp (Celestus occiduus). It had previously been stored in the Hunterian museum at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. “‘Celeste’ is home!” announced one Jamaican news outlet, invoking the nickname scientists had given the reptile, which they believed was a female. A close-up of ‘Celeste,’ the Jamaican giant galliwasp specimen repatriated to Jamaica. Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images Why would a preserved lizard, some 170 years old, evoke such excitement? Celeste was collected in the 1850s and represents a species that was endemic to Jamaica but is now classified as cri...

Climate change is threatening the survival of plants and animals around the globe as temperatures rise and habitats change. Some species have been able to meet the challenge with rapid evolutionary adaptation and other changes in behavior or physiology. Dark-colored dragonflies are getting paler in order to reduce the amount of heat they absorb from the sun. Mustard plants are flowering earlier to take advantage of earlier snowmelt. Lizards are becoming more cold-tolerant to handle the extreme variability of our new climate. However, scientific studies show that climate change is occurring much faster than species are changing. Zebrafish have evolved to thrive in water a degree or so warmer than normal, but they struggle to survive at higher temperatures. isoft/E+ Getty Images What is evolutionary adaptation? The word “adaptation” is used in many ways by climate scientists, but it has a...