Mary's Monday Metazoan: That's no miracle

What a beauty!

That's no metazoan, it's a ground effect vehicle.

Doesn't this mean David Hume was wrong? We should be giving thanks to Basiliscus from whom all blessings flow.

It's even got a band named after it.

So you're sayin Jeebus could do a really really fast 100 yard dash? 65 mph?!

Shucks he missed the boat and came at the wrong period in History.

He shoulda played in the NFL... the halftime commercials in the Super Bowl with a slow mo of his sneakered feet with Nike logos would top any old miracle story.

That cool lizard would be a great savior. Anyone thought about making a superhero out of it?

I would love to make a Jesus movie where he runs across the water like that lizard. Maybe he should dart his tongue a couple of times, too.

Of course, the name could also come from saying "Jesus Christ, look at that lizard!"

Hydroplaning. Even cars can do that if they're going too fast on wet roads.

Therefore: Cars = Jesus... Only at 60MPH...

In the video that's atop the current Endless Thread there appears to be a cat doing much the same thing.

@Carlie #8 - sort of like the Holy God Bird (ivory-billed woodpecker). Seriously, as a nature educator, I sort of hate names like this - the number of times I've had to get into Jesus Bugs (water striders) is beyond measure. Can't they keep their religion out of the naming of cool organisms? Or at least be more discreet about it? (Note snarky tone.)

Great footage but contrived story. I truly doubt that little 3-inch lizard had much to fear from that "hunting bird" vulture.

Nother vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw-sAUSmkfk

Fuckin' magnets? How do they work?

Jason A. ftw.

Long neck giraffes, and pet cats and dogs? Answer me that? I supposed that a cellphone eating pelican that can run is not a miracle?

I really hate the fucking retarded mime herd, or whatever their god damn name is.

So lizard=god. I guess that makes me a god of cyberspace! All hail me! Or not. Probably not. Never could get that movement off the ground. Oh well.

Man, these things are awesome. Made that much better by David Attenborough.

Jason A.: A wizard did it.

Part 2 of Nature's "Moment of Impact" starts with a nice breakdown of a basilisk lizard's running on water hunting technique.
Full episode is viewable on-line

Gotta love the high-speed camera. Too cool.

Wowbagger, that band happens to be one of my all time favorite. Absolutely brutal and perverse. I would not recommend them to most people but for those who think that Iggy Pop is entertaining, they will love this.

Then Comes Dudley

Note to Sven, they nicked the guitar riff from Great Expectations by Miles Davis.

I may not be able to walk on water, but give me a good non-Newtonian fluid and I'll run across it.
Of course, that won't make me your savior either.

I would love to make a Jesus movie where he runs across the water like that lizard.

*pssst*

I think the correct scientific nomenclature for this specimen is the Jesus F'n Christ lizard...

Notice that the size of Jesus' feet is never specified in the Bible.

I figure surface tension explains the "walking on water" episode -- no miracle required there, either.

they nicked the guitar riff from Great Expectations by Miles Davis.

Ha! They sure did. I kind of liked tha6t one.

Yeah, but evolution of such a trait is improbable (esp. if taken as a "goal"), which means that magic having no known probability at all is responsible instead.

Got to think like an IDiot to see the miracle, you know.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p

That cool lizard would be a great savior. Anyone thought about making a superhero out of it?

Maybe not what you were thinking of, but in The Incredibles, running on water is one of the major action sequences.

I've seen these things in the wild--they are awesome!

Very cool indeed.

I've seen bullfrogs run across the water surface, too, for about 10 feet before diving. The presence of a very large snapping turtle in the pond may have contributed to this behavior.

Sven, I recognized the vulture too, and I agree fully that it's no "hunting bird" and not likely a danger to the lizard. But, how well can the lizard see it? I suspect they'll flee from anything that soars overhead. But it would have been better, I think, if Attenborough had pointed out that this particular bird wasn't dangerous.

@#5, Jesus can[t play in the NFL, he's already under contract with the Yankees.

Top Gear a season or so ago whowed a bunch of INSANE Icelanders who do things like ride snowmobiles and tricked out 4x4's at high speeds across lakes.

I would love to make a Jesus movie where he runs across the water like that lizard. Maybe he should dart his tongue a couple of times, too.

Uh, basilisks are Corytophanids which are iguanians, not scleroglossans. But then, this blog isn't about biology, is it?

Acept the lizard as your saviour.