St. Patrick And The (Non-Existent) Snakes

It's one of the most popular Irish myths, the story of how St. Patrick drove all of the snakes out of Ireland and that's why to this day you don't see snakes in the Emerald Isle. However, scientific evidence has disproved this myth: Turns out, there were never any snakes in first place.

"At no time has there ever been any suggestion of snakes in Ireland, so [there was] nothing for St. Patrick to banish", naturalist Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, who has searched extensively through Irish fossil collections and records, told National Geographic News.

Sorry to disappoint, but this never happened.

In fact, the only reptile that is native to Ireland is the viviparous, or common, lizard. The viviparous lizard measures less than five inches in length, but that doesn't include its tail which is up to two times longer than its body.

This lizard species is found farther north than any other reptile species, as far as the Arctic Circle. The viviparous lizard also gives birth to live offspring, rather than laying eggs as is normal for most other lizard species.

The Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko

When brainstorming ideas for Halloween-themed and related blogs for October, we knew we had to include this reptile based on its name along: the Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko.

And then we got a look at it. Whoa, that is one scary gecko! Definitely worthy of the name "Satanic"!

We assume it gets its evil sounding name because of its eyes. The gecko doesn't have any eyelids, just a translucent eye cover which give them a glassy look. 

Another creepy feature of this gecko is its skin, which looks exactly like a dead leaf, including edges that looked nibbled on and patches that look like they're decaying. When it comes to camouflaging itself from predators, this gecko is truly a master of disguise!