Tokay Gecko

Gekko gecko

Reptile

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about tokay geckos. Tokay geckos may be known for their bright colors, coming in shades of blue with red to yellow spots, but they can also be well known for their temperament. Tokay geckos are some of the largest living geckos in the world. They average a foot (30.48 centimeters) in length including their tails, though females are typically a bit smaller than males. The two sexes can also be distinguished by the more pronounced femoral pores on the males’ inner thighs. Technically, femoral pores are found in both male and female tokay geckos, but they’re much larger in the males. These pores are used to excrete pheromones that attract mates.

Tokay geckos also employ a second, more observable strategy when seducing a member of the opposite sex. They chirp. Here’s an example of a tokay gecko’s voice. This calling card is not only what gave tokay geckos their scientific name, it’s also from where their common name is derived - being considered a onomatopoetic utterance of both the words “tokay” and “gecko”.

Throughout the breeding season is the only time tokay geckos come together, otherwise they’re known as solitary creatures. Tokay geckos begin breeding during the onset of the rainy season in their native homes throughout South and Southeast Asia. Tokay geckos will breed multiple times throughout this season, giving the female a chance to lay eggs in monthly succession. About an average of once per month, the female will lay two to three hard shelled eggs that stick to each other and the surface on which she lays them.

The parents will defend the eggs which take almost seven months to hatch, and these moms and dads can be fierce opponents. Tokay geckos, especially the males, will ruthlessly defend their territories. Adults are often seen covered in scars from these battles and when handled tokay geckos are capable of drawing blood - though often it’s only wild caught tokays that prove to be the rowdy ones. If you want to learn more about tokay gecko husbandry, we recommend Clint Reptile’s video on them!

In the wild, tokay geckos live in rainforest like environments. They are arboreal creatures, and they’ll happily inhabit cliffsides, as well. There is actually another species of tokay gecko who is more commonly associated with cliff clinging behavior. These are the Reeve’s tokay geckos and until recently they were considered the same species as tokay geckos. Reeve’s tokay geckos appear darker in color, sometimes even being called the black tokays - though all tokay geckos are able to darken - and lighten - their skin tones (though perhaps not as impressively as a chameleon).

Tokay geckos are awesome climbers because of their awesome toes. Their foot pads have teeny tiny hair like structures called setae that cling to a surface to the point that a tokay could hang its entire body from a single toe and still cling to a surface. We talked about awesome gecko feet in our gecko episode if you want to check that out.

Tokay geckos may also be found living in close proximity to humans and human settlements in their native ranges. This is because they help control pest populations. Tokay geckos eat mostly arthropods including crickets, spiders, termites, mosquitoes, moths, locusts, beetles, and more, but they may also take small rodents and snakes. In turn, tokay geckos may be eaten by snakes, but they are able to drop their tails if needed to make an escape. The dropped tail will grow back, but likely not as long as the original. Even if they can avoid being eaten, tokay geckos may live less than a decade in the wild.

For more facts on tokay geckos, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.