Check out these geckos

T.S.N. Murthy on the gentle lizards which can bite and bark like a dog

No Indian lizard is venomous

Geckos are small, gentle lizards characterised by a soft dull skin and large unblinking eyes. Most of them are familiar to us as nocturnal (night) prowlers. As soon as night falls and the lights are switched on, they are attracted towards the light where they can be seen stalking insects. The amazing ability of these little lizards to run, sometimes even upside down, or on vertical surfaces, is due to the clinging pads on their feet. There are geckos on the ground, in the forest and on treetops too.

Geckos are the only reptiles to have a true voice. Even the popular name ‘gecko’ is derived from the clicking sounds such as ‘yecko’ and ‘gecko’ produced by these lizards by pressing their tongue against the roof of their mouths. They mostly feed on insects. The most common wall lizards are the Brook’s gecko and the smooth house gecko.

Several kinds of geckos are found in the forests of India. The Andaman green gecko found in and around Port Blair is arboreal (lives on trees) and diurnal (hunts by day) in its habits. It is seen occasionally inside houses. The ‘flying gecko’ of the Nicobars has membranes that expand on its head, body and tail that serve as a kind of parachute.

While most geckos are harmless, the tokay of Assam and West Bengal is an exception. Named after its guttural rumble "touktay" this giant grows up to 35 cm. It can bark and bites like a dog. This red or orange-spotted wall lizard besides preying on insects occasionally gulps down a rat, bat, bird or even a small snake in its nocturnal rounds. When annoyed, the tokay, glittering in the darkness with its cat-like eyes and pulsating throat, inflates its body and growls, holding its jaws wide open in defence. Geckos lay two to three white, oval, hard-shelled eggs and the house geckos select odd spots on bookshelves, wardrobes or TV and radio sets. Superstitions about geckos are as widespread as geckos themselves, with the unreasonable fear that they are deadly and venomous, poisoning every part of the human body or object over which they run or fall. No gecko or for that matter no Indian lizard is venomous. Smaller geckos will never make an attempt to bite if handled.

Even if one bites, its feeble jaws are incapable of inflicting injury. On the other hand, the loud call of a tokay soon after a child’s birth in a Malaysian house is considered auspicious since it brings good luck to the newborn.

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