Comment on Who am I? Found in a botanical tropical garden in England. Not native, of course.
Sal@mander.xyz 1 year agoWow, 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…
fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 year ago
I know there is a display with plastic replicas of the domes denziens. I’ll have to take a closer look next time as it’s a local favourite spot. :) The articles I was poking around at were very generalist and you dug up way more than me.
Sal@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Hahaha, please report back when you do! 😜