Caitlin Monesmith

The grumpiest, most exhausted tegu lizard in the world.

She wants this road trip to be over SO bad. We're still like an hour away from the tegu condo at my parents' house and her farm fresh quail eggs courtesy of my brother's in-laws and she is just DONE.

Tegu on a red cushion in front of a fireplace

Don't forget to spoil your pets today 🦎

A tegu lizard who was sleeping with her butt propped up on a log.

“Why yes, this is a normal sleeping position, why you bothering me?” 🦎

What a silly butt propping #tegu she is.

Done! Salvator merianae - The Black-and-white Tegu.
Here we call him 'Teiú'

This is the front page of a fraudulent research article that purported to show a link between vaccines and autism. The word "RETRACTED" is written across it in large red letters. Wikipedia: On 28th February 1998, a fraudulent research paper by physician Andrew Wakefield and twelve coauthors, titled "Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children", was published in the British medical journal The Lancet.[1] The paper falsely claimed causative links between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and colitis and between colitis and autism. The fraud involved data selection, data manipulation, and two undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Today is Retraction Day, when we observe the anniversary of the retraction (Feb. 2, 2010) of the fraudulent paper that purported to show a link between vaccines and autism. 🧪#medsky

An American alligator in shallow water, surrounded by plants

Close up of the head of an American alligator in shallow swamp water, surrounded by plants

The head of an American alligator swimming in deeper, open water

Some friends from my last visit to Sanibel.

I did- we got them in my house a lot as a kid!

A shedd aquarium employee holding a caiman lizard. The employee's head is cropped out and there's a lot of greenery in front of them because they are in the lizard's habitat.

This aquarist has my dream job (lizard cuddler) (I do that anyways but imagine if I got paid for it...)

Me petting Neil

Love that my department just lets the lizard teach classes.

Nakajima and her namesake!

Love a good red stripe! Or any pattern, gargs are just gorgeous.

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard sitting in the lap of a young Black child. The tegu is resting happily. You can only see the child's hands and some of her legs. No face, for privacy.

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard sitting on the shoulder of a white child, whose face is obscured for privacy.

A screenshot of an instagram post from the museum of science and industry's summer picnic. There's lots of people in the background and the focus is on me holding my Argentine black and white tegu lizard while a young boy pets her. This child's parents signed a photo release for the public event so you can see his face as he looks at the lizard.

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard sitting on a young boy's shoulder. His face is turned away but you can see from his cheeks that he's laughing.

One of my favorite things about my lizard is how much she loves children. She's more than a pet; she's my outreach animal and she was born for the role. She does an amazing job helping them see how curious and intelligent reptiles can be.

An argentine black and white tegu lizard hiding in her owner's pajama pocket. The pajamas are pink and white striped, the bedspread is the William Morris Strawberry Thief pattern, and the lizard's legs and tail are visible.

An argentine black and white tegu lizard hiding in her owner's pajama pocket. The pajamas are pink and white striped, the bedspread is the William Morris Strawberry Thief pattern, and the lizard's tail and one toe with a claw are visible. The human has lifted the edge of the pocket and part of the lizard's face, focusing on the eye, is also visible.

An argentine black and white tegu lizard hiding in her owner's pajama pocket. The pajamas are pink and white striped, the bedspread is the William Morris Strawberry Thief pattern, and the lizard's face is visible with her tail flopped over her head. She seems to have no understanding that she is a lizard and TOO BIG to fit in the pocket, and also she is asleep now, trapping her owner who is far too enchanted by this scenario to move her.

An argentine black and white tegu lizard hiding in her owner's pajama pocket. The pajamas are pink and white striped, the bedspread is the William Morris Strawberry Thief pattern, and the lizard's sleeping face and part of the tail are visible.

Is that a lizard in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Oh. Oh, that's. That's actually a lizard. Huh.

How'd... how'd that even get in there...

The Philippinosaurus monitor subgenus is one of my favorites! Love these funky little frugivores.

Tegu / Teiú comum

Mairiporã, SP, Brasil

#fotografia #photography #lizards

Hello all: It is with a heavy heart that I remove my Starter Pack of "Trustworthy Mesopotamian Copper Ingot Merchants Within the City-State of Ur."

I have been informed about some pretty unfortunate oversights on my part and ultimately platformed some creators who should not have been platformed.

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard shoving a pair of fuzzy black earmuffs to the ground. The lizard is wearing a pink harness and sticking her tongue out a little. The earmuffs are falling off a desk.

Oh good, she's learned how to shove things off of tabletops. I see this boding well for the future.

#tegu 🦎

I am also horrified. The risk to the specimens is unacceptable. That's the *type specimen* of sediba and it could have been lost forever due to the thoughtless whims of rich people.

Hello🌿☁️✨

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard relaxing on patio furniture. She is extremely relaxed.

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard sitting on a small white Adirondack chair.

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard looking at chickens.

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard eating an egg, quite messily. She's sitting on newspaper and the egg is absolutely everywhere.

I'm starting to think Kaiju wishes my brother's in-laws were her in-laws.

In a vague effort to find some of my old followers (or even new ones) I’m gonna do a small giveaway. Just repost/be following/leave a comment (esp. if we know each other elsewhere!) and I’ll pick a couple of people to win a mystery box with some enamel pins and stickers 🐟

Leos are SO great, they're such fun little guys. Beardies really do leave clawmarks on your heart- I still have my old beardie's ashes sitting in an urn on my desk and he died... gosh, twelve years ago. He was a good egg.

Oh WOW he's gorgeous!!

Oh she is 100% Baby!

This! 👇🏻

A great blue heron flying over the prairie

A great blue heron flying over the prairie

I know TNC has its problems but they've done a beautiful job with the Kankakee Sands prairie restoration.

First Period Study Using Actual Blood Finds Shocking Discrepancies Across Products The first study on period product absorbency using actual blood has huge implications for our understanding of pads, tampons, menstrual cups, and period underwear.

"The first study comparing the absorption of different period products using actual human blood (as opposed to water or saline solutions) was only published in August, 2023." 🧪

An Argentine black and white tegu lizard sitting on the dashboard of my car. The hood is popped and she's looking out the window.

She is supervising my oil change.