174- Green Camouflage, a photo from Limon, East

Photographer's Note

This is a "Plumed Basilisk", suborder: "Iguania". But it's really a lizard, rather than an iguana. The name "Basilisk" comes from the greek word "basiliskos" meaning "Little king". This is a male.

It is unique in its faculty to run on the water-surface in order to flee its predators. This is due to a combination of its light weight and the large surface of its body touching the water, developed by a complex movement of its back legs, and the unfolding of palms.
It also hits the water with its tail, thus creating a little wave which helps carry it on the water.
For a human to accomplish such a feat, he would need to move at the speed of 110 km an hour ! Many records to break yet :-) But, for that reason, it's also called "Jesus Christ Lizard"

Well ! No walking on water here. It was Palm-Sunday :-)
I am sorry I cut the tail off, but the photo was taken with a zoom, and as you can imagine, green on green made it difficult to identify the details from a distance. Anyway, I wouldn't have got it all, as the tail is about twice the length of the body, to give you an idea of how far back the tip goes.
I shot the picture on the same canal boat trip as my posts 154, 156, 171.

HERE is a link to a video where you can watch Jesus walking on water :-)
1 WS showing the female.

ikeharel, Kielia, Kofman, s_lush, jlbrthnn, jlbrthnn, yedirenk, geoant68, gildasjan, danos oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

Disabled_A (0) 2011-10-02 15:54

Bonsoir (bonjour?) Marie Louise,

I can't help you with identifying this species, but I can say that it's a very nice picture! :)) An excellent example of "natural camouflage", and an excellent shot of an iguana showing (or hiding? LOL) in the green surroundings.
hmm... it looks fairly cute :)

amitiés,
aka fanni

marcan44 (6315) 2011-10-02 15:54

Ciao Marie Louise,
dopo tanto tempo ho ripreso a postare e a fare commenti, ed č un piacere ritrovare te le tue foto.
Ora che sono in pensione ho piů tempo da dedicare agli amici di TE.
Lo scatto nella sua eccellente nitidezza permette di apprezzare nei dettagli l'iguana malgrado la sua perfetta mimetizzazione.
Un caro saluto
Mario

icesurfer (574) 2011-10-02 16:25

Awesome! I actually had to look at the full-sized picture in order to spot what was hiding in there.
The colors are amazing, and you did a great job in getting a very sharp picture even when using a zoom: being a zoom-user myself, I know how tricky it can be at times.
Thanks for sharing!

ikeharel (113385) 2011-10-03 4:57

Bonjour MariLouise,
A perfect camouflage this Green-Iguana worn.
Nice taken picture, from afloat on canal's - nice colors and sharpness collected.
Cheers,
Ike

Kielia (24077) 2011-10-03 6:00

Bonjour Marie Louise,
this is really a rare sight here that I appreciate very much. Very nicely composed (despite the missing tail) and very beautiful impression of this wonderful creature in its natural surrounding. I also enjoyed reading your nice note.
My compliments!
Warm regards
Harriet

lousat (139298) 2011-10-05 1:56

Salut ML,une photo parfaite pour treknature aussi! Quel camouflage et quelle brillante capture avec ces verts metalliques,impressionante nettete' aussi dans une lumiere pas facile.Mes plus gros compliments et belle journee',Luciano

UlfE (14641) 2011-10-05 12:21

Hi Marie-Louise,

I think it is not an iguana, but rather a plumed basilisk See here
It is an excellent photo very nice green colours and perfect focus on the lizard. That part of the tail outside the frame does not matter since you very well could imagine what the rest of it looks like. TFS and have a nice evening!

Kind regards,

Ulf

s_lush (16602) 2011-10-09 3:08

Hello Marie-Louise,
This pretty creature is in full harmony with the surrounding vegetation on both its colors and beautiful shapes of its body. Excellent portrait of such an elegant and colorful animal!
What about religious buildings in Russia and Ukraine, I believe that the states spend no money for them. They are built for unsolicited contributions of citizens.
Best regards,
Sergiy

jlbrthnn (76043) 2011-10-10 4:52

Bonjour Marie-Louise,
ça, c'est du mimétisme exemplaire. Trčs belle et intéressante photo. La qualité est remarquable. Bravo.
Bonne journée
Amicalement
Joël

quillo (11858) 2011-10-10 13:58

Hola Marie Louise ......

Perfecto camuflaje ... y hermosa imagen de la
"iguana verde" y aunque la cola se quedó fuera
del cuadro la foto sigue siendo muy interesante,
felicidades amiga mía.

Un saludo y feliz noche.

yedirenk (11244) 2011-10-14 12:24

Hi dear Marie Louise,
what a wonderful nature shot..amazing scene with lovely camouflage master iguana..colours and details are eye catcher..very impressive and naturel composition with excellent sharpness..TFS
Greetings

Cevdet

geoant68 (331) 2011-10-16 9:00

Hi Marie Louise,
one more nice snapshot from the Iguania.The perfect camouflage is created from the dense green foliage and the same the animal.Excellent the light management.

Peter

gildasjan (43826) 2011-10-16 11:30

Bonjour Marie Louise
Il est important de cliquer sur la vignette afin de découvrir cet iguane se maquillant dans le vert ambiant.Il faut croire que la nature fait bien les choses.
Bonne soirée
Amicalement
gildas

clic (76) 2011-10-16 15:01

Bonjour Marie Louise
Quelle habileté pour un camouflage efficace: J'ai l'impression qu'il a pu colorer son bout de queue visible selon la teinte de la feuille sur laquelle elle repose!
Détails bien rendus malgré la lentille longue.
Amicalement.
Robert

danos (110407) 2011-10-18 0:30

Good morning Marie Louise,
one more nice presentation from the lizard family,with this to be named Iguania.I like its almost great camouflage through the green environment which lives,as your excellent close up view and presentation too.

Have a good day,Danos

siolaw (38294) 2011-10-18 5:09

Bonjour Marie Louise
En effet, il n'est pas facile ŕ détecter tellement sa couleur se confond dans la verdure environnante!
Un animal magnifique!
Amicalement
Laurent

pajaran (115941) 2011-10-20 22:58

Dobar dan.
Vrlo interesantan i dobar tekst o gusteru-iguani ...
Dobra ostrina snimka, sve u zelenom, lepa fotografija.
Guster ponosito pozira sa podignutom glavom spreman da potrci .
Imajte lep dan i vreme, kod nas hladna jesen.
Paja.

Google.

Bonne journée.
Article trčs intéressant et bien dans Guster-iguane ...
Bonne séquence de sévérité, tout en vert, de belles images.
Guster posant fičrement avec votre tęte pręts ŕ court.
Have a nice day et le temps, dans notre froid d'automne.
Paja.

pablominto (53746) 2011-10-22 23:06

Hello Marie-Louise,

Your little friend really knows how to make himself invisible...!
And I think he knows himself, at least he is smiling...
A fine documentary of how nature is working, sharp fine details in the animal and the image is telling the story well!

Greetings,
Pablo -

gunbud (34066) 2011-10-25 21:59

Hi MarieLouise,
He is quite handsome but hard to find in this sea of green.
Love the varing shades of green only broken by those blue dots on his body and tail.
Regards, Tom

eldancer1 (36343) 2011-10-27 9:25

This dude is very good in camouflaging, very hard to tell between the leaves and iguana. Nicely captured with good details and wonderful colors. Well done, tfs.

manatee (4668) 2011-11-04 17:42

Very wonderful Iguana, I wonder they put the name Basilics has some relation with the basil? just the color lol. I love the blue spots in it body and the shape of this magnificent animal, wish camufalge perfect between the plants, wonderful really.
ooops sorry I was ritting you in English in all this notes very bad English by the way I need to swich to Espańol.
Muy interesante iguana ese es le nombre de este animal en Espańol creo que ya lo sabes solo es información general, apropósito en ex sur de México en Oaxaca hacen tamales de Iguana y creo que en Chiapas y Tabasco también, es muy apreciada su carne de hecho usan perros para cazarlas y algunas personas tienen granjas de iguana dicen que su sabor es como el pollo bueno yo lo probé hace como 25 ańos creo que ya no recuerdo jejeje.
Gracias por compartirlo y por tus fotos y feliz fin de semana y hasta pronto querida amiga.

Mondaychild (378) 2012-01-03 0:26

Hello MarieLouise,

the title made me curious, so I had to click it! I couldn´t see this "master of camouflage" amidst all the greenery. How beautiful he is! And he looks so proud. Wonderful photo - he is so green and so fast, but you were there in the right moment!