But it took years of analysis to figure out how to classify the surprising-looking creature.
They are very smart but very slow to reach decisions, perhaps not surprising for creatures that can count on living many millions of years.
Burton came to parenthood pretty late in life, at 45, but he seems to relish "the surprising little creatures", Billy, aged nine, and Nell, five.
The finding that the products of human-Neanderthal romance (or, just as likely, rape) had fertility problems is not surprising: many hybrid creatures have trouble reproducing.
It is surely rather surprising that we – creatures who are, as he has explained, merely lumbering robots, survival-machines entirely controlled by these super-beings – are, at this stage of our evolution, suddenly free to rise up with one bound and overpower them.
It's surprising how smart creatures, from insects to felines, are when their dinner is at stake.
Flora and fauna too are surprising and delightful, as creatures as strange as user creations from Maxis' Spore frolic in forests of giant flowers.
VICE spoke with Freeze about the creature's surprising bone structure, their free-roaming takeover of a certain South Florida island, and what the fuck your house smells like after slow-cooking an iguana overnight.
At the time, many New Yorkers expressed a surprising fondness for the creatures.
