Otago Museum living environments officer Murray McGuigan is
used as a climbing face by a baby Giant Madagascan day
gecko believed to be about a week old and discovered in the
museum's Discovery World Tropical Forest yesterday. Photo
by Allison Rudd.
Otago Museum Discovery World Tropical Forest staff are
delighted to have extra mouths to feed after unexpectedly
discovering two gecko hatchlings late yesterday afternoon.
The twins, which could be up to a week old, are siblings for
the museum's first gecko baby, hatched about a month ago.
Their Giant Madagascan day gecko parents arrived at the
tropical environment in June from Auckland Zoo.
They had produced a set of twins in Auckland but museum staff
had not expected them to breed so soon, museum director
Shimrath Paul said last night.
Females generally lay two eggs at a time.
They look like squishy white peas attached to each other and
are usually hidden on tree trunks or under leaves.
Incubation takes about three months and babies hatch as
miniatures of their parents - bright green with red markings,
curious in nature, fleet of foot, and endowed with millions
of microscopic hairs on each toe, enabling them to climb any
surface.
Like their parents, the offspring eat bananas and flies
sprayed with a multivitamin solution.
One baby sat on a handrail for half an hour, chasing flies
and stalking butterflies four times its size.
It fell into living environments officer Murray McGuigan's
hand, later taking an huge leap on to his head.
Living environments co-ordinator Scott Kerr said female
geckos can lay up to six pairs of eggs a year, so there was a
good possibility of more baby geckos for the attraction.
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