This year, nine hundred animals have already been born in the Prague Zoo. The most recent ones, four gecko babies, are literally a wonder. These four miraculous reptiles helped to bring variety to the Zoo’s population, together with, for example, a baby giraffe, young vultures, a gorilla cub, and an elephant calf.
The baby reptiles are a genus of geckos often referred to as “wonder geckos” (Teratoscincus scincus scincus). And what makes them so miraculous? “These geckos got their nickname, because their eyes shine like rubies, when one lights them with a flash-light,” Prague Zoo’s chief breeder of reptiles, Nataša Velenská, explains.
Also, geckos are able to lick their own eyes, and the fact that their gender is decided based on temperature is yet another curiosity. The female usually lays two eggs, from which the stripy babies hatch in about 1,5 – 3 months. The young geckos are used as a “hygienic police force” in Prague Zoo‘s desert and semi-desert vivaria. After dark, when their inhabitants cease to be active, the geckos come and collect all forgotten and uneaten insects.
In nature, we can find wonder geckos in the Persian Gulf or China. In Prague Zoo, you can see them in the Kattakum exposition of the Feline and Reptile Pavilion. The dessert exhibit is extensively heated up, and the temperature reaches up to 50°C (122°F).
Come and visit the wonder gecko babies in the Prague Zoo’s recently overhauled Feline and Reptile Pavilion, together with its other interesting residents, such as rare lions, giant turtles, or scary rattlesnakes.
Source: Official Website of Prague ZOO
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