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 Tolkien’s Dragon Smaug

1/18/2015

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The villain of J. R. R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit–the fearsome dragon Smaug–dwells deep in a cavern with a massive hoard of treasure and terrorizes nearby villages. Smaug is the new name given to a genus of girdled lizards from South Africa by Ed Stanley, a doctoral candidate at the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History. 

Though much smaller than the massive fire-breathing dragon of Tolkien’s tale, the real-world reptile bears thick scales of armor on its backs and has a weak underbelly that is vulnerable to predators, much like its novelistic namesake.

The natural predators of the Smaug genus may not be the biggest threat to the survival of the species, however. The exotic look of the lizards makes them attractive to wealthy pet collectors, and their habitat happens to intersect with valuable farmland.

Source: http://www.amnh.org/



El villano de El Hobbit, de JRR Tolkien: el temible dragón Smaug, mora en lo profundo de una caverna con una acumulación masiva de tesoros y aterroriza a los pueblos cercanos. Smaug es el nuevo nombre dado a un género de lagartos de Sudáfrica por Ed Stanley, un candidato doctoral en la Escuela Richard Gilder en el Museo Americano de Historia Natural.

Aunque mucho más pequeño que el dragón que escupe fuego de forma masiva en el cuento de Tolkien, el reptil del mundo real lleva gruesas escamas como armadura sobre su espalda y tiene un vientre débil que es vulnerable a los depredadores, al igual que su homónimo novelístico.

Los depredadores naturales del género Smaug pueden no ser la mayor amenaza para la supervivencia de la especie, sin embargo, el look exótico de los lagartos los hace atractivos para los adinerados coleccionistas de mascotas, y su hábitat pasa a cruzarse con valiosas tierras de cultivo.

Fuente: http://www.amnh.org/
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