tagged w/ Geckos
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Geckos Mark Historic Find for LA County
Father-son herpetology team uncovers non-native Mediterranean house gecko
By JOSH STEINER
Updated 11:15 AM PDT, Fri, Oct 1, 2010
Will and Reese Bernstein
The first notable discovery for the Natural History Museum’s Lost Lizards of LA survey has been made near Chatsworth.
According to the Natural History Museum, an amateur father-son team of herpetologists Will and Reese Bernstein discovered a population of non-native Mediterranean House Geckos.
The Bernstein’s attended the museum’s lizard hunt this spring in Hancock and Exposition Park when the LLOLA project began. After, they returned home to the Valley to continue their search.
After they submitted their results, their discoveries were initially believed to be a Western Branded Gecko. However on closer inspection, Cal State Northridge herpetologist and LLOLA consultant Dr. Robert Espinoza ruled that the species was actually the Mediterranean House Gecko, according to Natural History Museum statement:
Although the two species are superficially similar in color pattern, the local banded geckos (1) lack toe pads, (2) have eyelids, and (3) don't have bumpy warts (tubercles). As their name implies, Mediterranean House Geckos are not native to the area. But they have been widely introduced throughout the U.S. (including Hawaii), particularly in the southeast.
After a search of local records, Espinoza determined that this was the first discovery of this particular species in Los Angeles County. There have been 23 records of the Gecko in California, but all have come out of either San Diego or Riverside County.
The Bernstein’s discovery, in addition to other LLOLA findings, will be on display during the second annual Reptile and Amphibian Appreciation Day on Sunday, Oct 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Geckos Mark Historic Find for LA County
Father-son herpetology team uncovers... more
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Sell a guinea pig, go to jail.
That's the law under consideration by San Francisco's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. If the commission approves the ordinance at its meeting tonight, San Francisco could soon have what is believed to be the country's first ban on the sale of all pets except fish.
That includes dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, rats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, birds, snakes, lizards and nearly every other critter, or, as the commission calls them, companion ani....
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/08/MN9L1EAT90.DTLSell a guinea pig, go to jail.
That's the law under consideration by San... more
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In the previous few gekkotan articles we looked at the seriously weird and highly distinctive leaf-tailed geckos of Madagascar. There's another group of especially unusual, highly notable gekkonid gekkotans I want to write about: the flying, gliding or parachute geckos (Ptychozoon) of south-east Asia and India. These geckos are weird: the adjacent pic (widely available online, but only at frustratingly small size; it's credited to Tim Macmillan/John Downer) makes them look like tiny screaming dragons...
Parachute geckos are cryptic, forest-dwelling lizards. Patterned in greys or browns and possessing blotches and wavy dark lines on their bodies, they are good at concealing themselves on trunks and branches. Like the majority of the 1500-2000 gekkotan species (remember: this is a big, important group), they're fairly small, with SVLs* of between 58 and 108 mm.
read more:
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/06/ptychozoon_parachute_geckos.phpIn the previous few gekkotan articles we looked at the seriously weird and highly... more
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1 year ago
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"A new type of dry glue designed to mimic gecko feet is 10 times stickier than the gravity-defying lizards, and three times stickier than other gecko-inspired glues, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
'It's the stickiest dry glue yet,' said Liming Dai of the University of Dayton, who reported on the glue in the journal Science. 'Our sticky glue has a force 10 times that of gecko feet and three times more than previous sticky glues trying to mimic the gecko feet.'
A 1-inch (2.5-cm) square of the adhesive can support the weight of a 220-pound (100-kg) man climbing up a vertical surface, but it can be easily lifted and reapplied, an ideal material for, say, a Spider-Man suit.
Aside from helping people walk up walls, the glue could be used in electrical components without the need for soldering."
Learn more at: http://www.udayton.edu/News/Article/?contentId=18761 ; http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/322/5899/238"A new type of dry glue designed to mimic gecko feet is 10 times stickier than... more
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Californian scientists are replicating the design of the gecko's nanohair-covered toes in the hope that one day we'll also be able to thumb our noses to the forces of gravity (at which point our nanohair-covered fingers would probably get stuck hilariously but disastrously to our faces...).Californian scientists are replicating the design of the gecko's nanohair-covered... more
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The Australian Egg Corporation has expressed surprise at the discovery of a gecko inside a chicken egg.
Darwin doctor Peter Beaumont was cooking dinner when he cracked open the egg and found the dead gecko inside the shell.
Health authorities say the discovery is nothing to be alarmed about and it is being examined at a laboratory.The Australian Egg Corporation has expressed surprise at the discovery of a gecko... more
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New research has discovered that geckos, already rated as some of the world's greatest climbers, use their tail as a 'fifth' foot, that helps them climb up vertical walls, always ensure a 'feet first' landing and helps them pull slick triple backflips.
Ok, they can't do triple backflips, but the stuff they can do is still pretty impressive, not only can they use their tail as a fifth leg to help climb up vertical walls, they can use it to steady themselves if they take a slip, but most impressively the research discovered that when in windy situations the geckos tails "whipped around clockwise to turn the lizard right side up. Once the rotation is complete, the lizard spreads its legs and toes to parachute." The findings also claim that if necessary, geckos will even sometimes glide to safety using their tails to steer their bodies to desired landing spots.
Pretty cool considering their tails account for only 10% of their body weight. New research has discovered that geckos, already rated as some of the world's... more
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Scientists at MIT have sited the gecko lizard as the main source behind their invention of "biorubber," a biocompatible, biodegradable bandage they hope will replace the use of sutures and staples in medical procedures.
Scientists at MIT have sited the gecko lizard as the main source behind their... more
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