A photograph captures a 'satanic leaf-tailed gecko' or a 'flying lizard' with wings like a dragon.
On 12 November 2014, the Twitter account @EarthBeauties posted a photograph of what was claimed to be a 'satanic leaf-tailed gecko': Nearly four years later, the 'Pictures in History' Facebook page posted the same photograph, describing the pictured creature as a 'flying lizard': The animal seen here is indeed a type of lizard known as the satanic leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus), but it does not actually have wings. Those dragon-like appendages were added to a photograph taken by author, entomologist, and photographer Piotr Naskrecki. Naskrecki, who is also the photographer behind the amazing 'puppy-sized spider' photographs, posted the unaltered images of the gecko on his blog The Smaller Majority on 22 September 2012: The gecko grew wings about a year later when the photograph was posted to the Hybrid Animals subreddit, which encourages participants to 'Create new animals by combining species with each other and/or with any other stuff you find appropriate. Using Photoshop.' The altered photograph began spreading online and received a big viral push on 9 June 2013 when it was retweeted by the Game Of Thrones Twitter account: DRACARYS! RT @fascinatingpics Satanic leaf-tailed Gecko. It's like a real life Dragon! http://t.co/MytwFSH0Qw - Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) June 9, 2013 The doctored photograph of the satanic leaf-tailed gecko has seen a few spikes in popularity since it first went viral in 2013, and it will likely see a few more surges over the years. But regardless of how many times the image goes viral, this species of gecko will never sprout wings nor become a member of the dragon family.
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