Comment on Who am I? Found in a botanical tropical garden in England. Not native, of course.
Sal@mander.xyz 1 year agoOoh, that changes things. I was thinking along the lines of what might have accidentally gotten there. But if it was put there in purpose then that opens up all kinds of exotic geckos. Was this biome associated with plants of some specific area of the world? Or just general tropical?
fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 year ago
General tropical! It’s got different areas in different sections. It’s called the Eden Project!
Sal@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Wow, that is a very cool project. I had never heard of this! I will go check it out one day ^_^
Looking into it… I do think it is a Hemidactylus platyurus that was introduced by accident with the plants when the Eden Project started.
The gecko you have encountered could be a descendant of Tommy, the first wildlife guest: www.eden-project.co.uk/tommy.htm
I found a few other encounters with what appears to be the family and friends of this gecko, also at the Eden Project:
www.flickr.com/photos/hh27/6283695173
twitter.com/edenproject/…/979433244394434560
twitter.com/EdenProject/…/886314632784293891
twitter.com/EdenProject/…/1484949097215897608
Comparing the Flickr image with this image of Hemidactylus platyurus, and to other images I can find online, I think that it is a very close match…
fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Haha! Amazing! He was in the lower tropics by a waterfall. They’re actually opening up Edens around the world!!
www.edenproject.com/new-edens
Sal@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Oh cool! England is the closest to me at the moment, though :p
Found some sources that claim the species is Hemidactylus mabouia and that they were introduced in purpose for pest control. That is not unlikely, but I can’t an official source from The Eden Project describing the species that they introduced on purpose!
harper-adams.ac.uk/…/species-galore-identified-du…
zoochat.com/…/green-anole-10-july-2018-at-the-ede…