The 10cm-long amphibian is named Dermophis donaldtrumpi.
A newly discovered caecilian has been named after US President Donald Trump, apparently in an effort to bring awareness to environmental issues such as climate change. EnviroBuild, a UK-based supporter of the Rainforest Trust, which held an auction to give naming rights to the amphibian, paid $25,000 to the trust in order to name the herp Dermophis donaldtrumpi, after Trump. Trump often tweets that climate change is a hoax and has even said global warming is a hoax invented by the Chinese.
The first species from Rainforest Trust’s Species Legacy Auction has been named! EnviroBuild, who purchased the naming…
Posted by Rainforest Trust on Wednesday, December 19, 2018
The amphibian lives nearly its entire life underground, and is a burrower. EnviroBuild says the name is fitting, as “Burrowing its head underground helps Donald Trump when avoiding scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change,” according to a press release put out by the company.
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
The name still has undergo a peer review, but the company doesn’t see an issue as species are named after presidents all the time.
“EnviroBuild is not an overtly political organization, but we do feel very strongly that everyone should do everything they can to leave the world in a better way than they found it,” the company said in a statement on its website. “It was saddening to see another year without significant progress at the most recent round of COP talks, COP24 in Katowice (24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Further progress on the essential technical elements was blocked by the unusual alliance of USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait who also blocked the adoption of a key scientific report.
Caecilians Susceptible To Chytrid Fungus, Study Says
Caecilians are worm-like and snake-like amphibians that live primarily underground.
