Page 42 - World of Animals - Issue #36

17

Amazing

facts
Geckos T he y can lose their tails

They can lose their tails
Geckos are able to detach their tail
Geckos are able to detach their tail
when threatened by a predator, in
when threatened by a predator, in
the hope the tail will act as a decoy
while they make a quick getaway.
while they make a quick getaway.
Some species return to the scene of
Some species return to the scene of
These sticky little wide-eyed reptiles the hope the tail will act as a decoy
the amputation to make a meal out
the amputation to make a meal out
of the severed limb. Most gecko tails
captured our hearts right from the gecko of the severed limb. Most gecko tails
captured our hearts right from the gecko
are particularly fat, as it’s where lots
are particularly fat, as it’s where lots
of nutrients are stored. So when
of nutrients are stored. So when
they need to leave a limb at will, they
they need to leave a limb at will, they
remember where to return.
remember where to return.

They’re double-jointed
Van der Waals forces are really strong
and there’s no way to turn them off, so
in order for the gecko to move, and not
stay permanently stuck to one position, an
important part of their physiology helps
them do so. They may look funny, but
their toes can bend the opposite way to
ours. This helps them peel their sticky feet
off surfaces when they want to move by
curling their joints upwards.

The Virgin Islands dwarf They have
gecko is the smallest
species of gecko, and one crazy eyes
of the smallest vertebrates Geckos have vertical pupils;
in the world. It grows to just some have pupils that narrow
1.8 centimetres (0.71 inches) into stacked pinholes. Slit-
long. shaped pupils are usually
found in predators and
Gecko feet can stick to every nocturnal creatures, such
surface known to man, with as the gecko. The stacked
one exception - Teflon. The
non-stick man-made material arrangement is yet to be
explained and the relationship
is so effective that a gecko
that can hang upside down between animal pupils and
from glass with one toe isn’t their ecological niches are still
being explored.
able to grip on.
Because they are nocturnal,
There are around 6,000 they have specially adapted
species of lizard, and about eyes to help them see in
1,500 of these are geckos darkness. Their eyes are
belonging to the infraorder around 350 times more
Gekkota. sensitive to light than ours.

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