Thought extinct for 50 years, the Pinocchio lizard or anole has been rediscovered in the cloud forests of Ecuador.
Alejandro Arteaga, the co-founder of the educational and ecotourism company Tropical Herping who obtained the photos, has informed the world of the great news. He said that after searching for the long-nosed animal for three years, their team of photographers and researchers found the lizard recently in a stretch of pristine cloud forest in the northwest part of the country.
Pinocchio anoles (Anolis proboscis) are only found in four locations, mostly along a single stretch of road, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They have one of the smallest ranges of any lizard in the world, Arteaga said.
I’d never heard of this one before. Not much of a range, and good luck to it. And us.