Page 6 - Gateways Fall 2016 c

News Bites

The latest noteworthy news from
around Brookfield Zoo and beyond
the gates is right at your fingertips.

Big News
To those who are decimating the
world’s only known wild population of IMPACT

turquoise dwarf geckos, we say, “Pick on

someone your own size.” These reptiles

are only 2 to 3 inches long, even including their tail, and

are found solely in a 3-square-mile area on a hillside in

Tanzania’s Kimboza Forest. They are in fierce demand in

the pet trade, mostly in Europe, which means their num-

bers are dwindling in their limited habitat. Researchers

estimate that their wild population has been reduced

by a third since 2004.

Now we’ve stepped in to help. For the first time,

we are joining with several other zoos to breed

turquoise dwarf geckos, which are classified as critically

endangered by the International Union for Conservation

of Nature (IUCN). We recently acquired 15 of these

geckos from a zoo in Zagreb, Croatia. Some of them

immediately went to other zoos accredited by the

Association of Zoos and Aquariums for breeding, and

some of them laid eggs that later hatched here, so our

grand total is now at 12 (as of press time).

Because there are so few of them to study in the wild,

not much is known about the species. We do know that

males are turquoise and females are brown. We also

know that they live exclusively in one kind of tree in the

wild and eat tiny bugs.

Most of our geckos live behind the scenes here at

Brookfield Zoo, but one male is on exhibit in Feathers and

Scales. Be sure to check him out, as it is a rare treat to see

these creatures!

TURQUOISE DWARF GECKO

6 GATEWAYS | NEWS BITES