234 Hot Dragons, Cold Dragons

We recap some of our recent travels, and then chat about bearded dragons. A new study shows that these lizards are making decisions about how they maintain their body temperature, and this has a knock-on effect on how well they perform during their daily lives. Being cold-blooded is complicated.

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Main Paper References:

Wild KH, Roe JH, Curran J, Pearson PR, Schwanz L, Georges A, Sarre SD. 2025. Thermal performance curves, activity and survival in a free‐ranging ectotherm. Journal of Animal Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.70091.

Species of the Bi-Week:

Petzold A, Glaw F, Mullin KE, Rakotoarison A, Raselimanana AP, Cottini A, Orozco-terWengel P, Kohler J, Protzel D, Vences M, Hofreiter M, Scherz MD. 2025. A preliminary assessment of the diversity in the frog genus Anilany (Microhylidae: Cophylinae) with description of a new species from western Madagascar. Salamandra.

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Marshall BM, Strine CT, Gore ML, Eskew EA, Stringham OC, Cardoso P, Chekunov S, Watters F, Fukushima C, García-Díaz P, Sinclair JS, Tlusty MF, Almeida RJ, Valdez JW, Hughes AC. 2025. Mapping the global dimensions of US wildlife imports. Current Biology:S0960982225008784. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.012.

Editing and Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy

Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com