A wriggling amphibian which can only see in black and white (and which literally buries its head in the sand) has been named after President Donald Trump. Sustainable housing company Envirobuild bid £19,800 at auction for the right to name the worm-like Panamanian amphibian Dermophis donaldtrumpi.
The company says that it chose the limbless creature because of Donald Trump’s policies on climate change – and how both the amphibian and the president tend to see things in black and white.
The company wrote in a blog post, ‘Caecilians is taken from the Latin Caecus meaning “blind”, and have rudimentary eyes which can only detect light or dark. ‘Capable of seeing the world only in black and white, Donald Trump has claimed that climate change is a hoax by the Chinese.’
‘The amphibians live almost entirely underground, believed to have lost their limbs at least 60 million years ago, as an adaptation to burrowing. ‘Burrowing its head underground helps Donald Trump when avoiding scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change and also appointed several energy lobbyists to the Environment Agency, where their job is to regulate the energy industry.’