A blind worm has just been named after Donald Trump. You have to admit the resemblance is uncanny.
We bought the naming rights for a caecilian that can only see light and dark at @RainforestTrust's charity auction. @RealDonaldTrump must see the world in black & white to think climate change is a hoax; he’s a perfect namesake! #COP24 #charitytuesday https://t.co/497929Dklk pic.twitter.com/xD2YXxBJ3W
— EnviroBuild (@ENVIROBUILDcom) December 18, 2018
“I find it offensive that my name has been applied to such a slimy, unpleasant creature, and I will be talking to my lawyers,” the worm tweeted this afternoon.
— Derpetologist (@Er_Nope) December 19, 2018
EnviroBuild, a London-based sustainable building materials company, saw a resemblance between the serpentine creature, which is nearly blind and burrows underground, and Trump, who has called the evidence of global warming a “hoax.” EnviroBuild, which paid $25,000 for the naming rights at an auction this month, said on Tuesday that it chose “Dermophis donaldtrumpi” in recognition of the president’s position on climate change. The announcement came on the heels of a weekend agreement by climate negotiators in Poland on the rules for implementing the Paris pact, which Trump considers counter to U.S. interests.
As an amphibian, the company noted in a news release, the Dermophis donaldtrumpi is especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of climate change and is “therefore in danger of becoming extinct as a direct result of its namesake’s climate policies.”
The naming rights went up for sale Dec. 8 at a “Species Legacy Auction” sponsored by Rainforest Trust, a Virginia-based conservation nonprofit organization that called the event “the largest species-naming auction in history.” The privilege of naming the “unusual wormlike” species, the trust said, drew the highest bid of any item in the auction, the proceeds of which benefited wildlife conservation.
