It had been a long past few days sitting through lecture after lecture and I was itching to get back out into the field. I picked a trail near the west end of the site in some old growth rainforest which I thought could produce a python, grabbed my headlamp, and headed out at sunset. The forest was characterized by vines and strangler figs, a much different ecosystem than the more recent restoration site located a click away. Darkness reaches a new meaning underneath the closed canopy, and turning off your spotlight truly becomes a humbling experience. Upon doing so I made an interesting discovery, florescent fungi that can be seen from several yards away. These tiny detrivores have, for some reason or another, evolved to literally glow in dark, perhaps to aid in spore dispersal.
I continued down the trail, avoiding nasty wait-a-whiles (large fern-like plants with razor sharp tendrils) and picking blood-sucking leeches from my body (at one point I counted over ten on or in my body).
Rounding the corner, my headlamp fell upon a truly mystical creature, the Boyd's Forest Dragon (Hypsilurus boydii).
Contrary to the literature on this agamid, this individual was not in favor of discreetly sliding around the sapling trunk out of view but rather took off straight up the tree.
I ran over to the sapling, looked up, and saw the lizard nearly 50 feet up.
The sapling would not support my weight, but I was not about to let this magnificent reptile escape.
I grabbed hold of the sapling at chest height, and shook.
A few seconds later, the dragon came tumbling out of the tree and hit the ground at a dead sprint.
The chase was on!
Running through the pitch black, dodging branches, hurtling fallen trees, I managed to keep my light on the lizard (who was running on his hind legs - bipedal locomotion is not uncommon amongst agamids) and ran him down nearly 30 yards from where we started.
I saw my chance and dove, grasping him by the last inch of his tail (which thankfully didn't break).
Success!
Scraped, bruised, and out of breath I picked up the dragon and headed back to the tree where we had our first encounter.
I spent the next half hour taking photographs, and released the lizard back to his perch.
I finished the walk and saw nothing else of note.
I was not overly concerned and retired to my cabin content, hoping to encounter my new dragon friend again...
