Jesus Christ Lizard

[Pro-Humanist FREELOVER]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45yabrnryXk
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Theologians have yet to weigh in on the matter.

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Lizards filmed 'walking on water'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8304000/8304139.stm
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Excerpts:

... the lizards have evolved an extraordinary escape mechanism.

They drop into the water and then run across it, earning the
lizards their nickname, the "Jesus" or "Jesus Christ" lizard.

Exactly how they do so is revealed by the slow-motion, high-
definition footage taken at 2,000 frames per second.

"Because they run so fast they create a bubble as their feet
hit the water and then they push off from this bubble before
it bursts. They can only run at that speed. If they were going
any slower, for example, they wouldn't stay upright, they would
slip into the water and would have to swim."

...

"Around 80% of the time when they are escaping from things,
they don't run, they swim. So filming them running was quite
a difficult thing in itself."

The lizard has long thin toes that are covered by scales under-
foot. These help create the air bubbles that enable the lizard
to push off and walk across the water.

...

Another lizard, a tiny species known as a pygmy gecko, faces
a different problem altogether.

At just 2 to 4cm long from head to tail, the Brazilian pygmy
gecko (Coleodactylus amazonicus) could be battered by a
raindrop and risk drowning in even the smallest pool of water.

So it has evolved to be essentially waterproof, which in turn
allows it to walk across the surface of any puddle it encounters.

...

"Because they are so tiny, they are able to float on the surface
of the water like a pondskater, so they don't break the surface
tension."

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