He may already have large-scale buildings named after him, but soon President Trump will have a much smaller entity bearing his name.
A newly discovered blind amphibian, a caecilian that buries its head in the sand, will be called the Dermophis donaldtrumpi.
After its discovery in Panama, the creature’s naming rights were auctioned off to raise money for environmental charity The Rainforest Trust. The winning bid, at $25,000, came from EnviroBuild, a sustainable building company based in London. The company’s founder Aidan Bell chose the name based on the creature’s ability to bury its head in the sand, which he likened to Trump’s approach to global warming.
Speaking to The Guardian, Bell explained that “it is the perfect name. Caecilian is taken from the Latin caecus, meaning ‘blind’, perfectly mirroring the strategic vision President Trump has consistently shown towards climate change.”
The creature is also reportedly susceptible to the effects of climate change, meaning that it is directly impacted by Trump’s climate policies. The scientists who found the 10cm creature have agreed to use the Dermophis donaldtrumpi name when they publish their discovery.