Page 43 - World of Animals - Issue #36

Geckos

The word gecko comes
T h ey from an Indonesian-Malay
They lick their
eyes to keep word ‘gekoq’, which is
eyes to keep
them clean
them clean onomatopoeic and sounds
like the chirping noise they
U n l i k e u s , s o m e g e c k o s d o make when communicating
Unlike us, some geckos do
not have eyelids. Instead, to
n o t h a v e e y e l i d s . I n s t e a d , t o with one another.
t
e e
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c
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protect their delicate eyes, , In times of need, some
y
a
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t they have a clear membrane species of female gecko are
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T
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c covering the surface. The parthenogenic, meaning they
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e eyelid’s function is to keep are able to reproduce without
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the eye moist and wipe the presence of a male.
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. T
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away any debris. To
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compensate for this, The ability to lose a limb at
e
mpe
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,
h
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o
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sa
g e c k o s u s e t h e i r will is known as autotomy,
geckos use their
to
k
c
to
i
tongue to lick which comes from the
n
l
e
g
u
e
ei
r
es
y
t
their eyes.. Greek language, meaning
h
self-amputation.
The largest known species
was the kawekaweau, now
extinct; it was endemic to
New Zealand and reached
lengths of 60 centimetres (24
inches).
Some geckos are able
to change colour, like a
chameleon. However, they
aren’t just doing it to avoid
predation but also to better
sneak up on their prey.
In Madagascar, some sneaky
geckos disguise themselves Geckos have hairy feet
The bottoms of their feet are covered
as foliage, complete with tails with millions of tiny hairs called setae.
Each one of these little bristles are
that look like leaves. in turn, covered with thousands of
even smaller hairs called spatulae.
The purpose of having so many
microscopic structures lining their toes
is to increase the surface area to an
extremely large size compared to the
small reptile. Geckos are able to grip
They have no ears to surfaces through ‘van der Waals’
Geckos don’t have external forces (molecular attractions). The
ears like we do; instead they tokay gecko can support its entire body
have a tunnel connecting their weight with just one toe.
eardrums. Mammals judge
where a sound is coming from by
judging the time delay between
the time taken for the sound to
get to each ear, but this is harder
for smaller animals – whose
ears are close together – to do.
The tunnel helps to amplify the
difference. This is why they look

like they have holes either side of
their head. If you were to shine a
torch through one side, you would
see light come out the other.
They have Some people
unsinkable water- think they’re
resistant abilities good luck
The Jesus Christ lizard is well known In many places geckos symbolise
for its ability to run across water at good luck, particularly in Hawaii
high speed to escape being eaten. as they enter homes and rid
The Brazilian pygmy gecko, on the people of any unwanted insects,
other hand, takes this to a whole such as mosquitoes, spiders and
new level and is able to not only cockroaches. In Sri Lanka, if you
run across water, but stand on the hear a gecko’s chirp consider it a
surface. This is due to their extremely warning but if you hear a tokay
light body weight and hydrophobic gecko call out seven times in © Alamy; Thinkstock
skin, which repels water molecules. Thailand it’s good luck.
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