How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

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scottriv
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How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by scottriv »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigues_day_gecko

After looking at the island on Google Earth, it is hard to imagine that they could have wiped out every single lizard on the island?

Is it worth a trip? ;)

Does anyone read German?

http://www.ig-phelsuma.de/reiseberichte/mauritius.phtml
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Does anyone read German?
I do. What do you need to know?
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BChambers
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Re: How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by BChambers »

It's almost certainly gone. Rats are very thorough, sad to say.
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Mike Pingleton
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Re: How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by Mike Pingleton »

It's really extinct.

-Mike
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scottriv
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Re: How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by scottriv »

Yea, I forgot about invasive species like rats and mongoose.

They could have easily wiped out that poor little gecko.

I lived in Jamaica and it was a shame what those mongoose were able to do to Jamaican snake populations. :(
squinn
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Re: How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by squinn »

shame this species couldn't have held on another century or less it is almost certain that hobbyists and herpeculturists could have bred this species and saved it from extinction assuming it was like other day geckos. Undoubtedly this would have been a popular captive. Does make me wonder.....you wouldn't think rats would be that efficient at eliminating an arboreal species that makes me think they were not egg gluers like some of the day gecko family.
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Don Cascabel
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Re: How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by Don Cascabel »

I have my doubts about a lot of "extinct" reptiles... they are just hard to wipe out sometimes. I also have my doubts about "thorough searches", LOL, that can be so hit or miss in the tropics it's not even funny. A thorough search better be one conducted every few days over a couple of different rainy cycles, not a through search of a few days (although with lizards it's easier to confirm probably, especially on an island).

Cheers,

Don Cascabel
Reptiluvr
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Re: How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by Reptiluvr »

I think their existence is possible. The New Caledonian Crested Gecko (Rhacodactylus ciliatus) was extinct too up until 1994. I don't know what the habitat is like or distribution of people but if Madagascar is any kind of clue then there's a possibility it's hiding in places people don't like to traverse. There could even be many new species there like the recent amphibian discoveries of Madagascar.
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scottriv
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Re: How Many of you think this Day Gecko is REALLY extinct?

Post by scottriv »

Back in the 80's ALL of my friends thought that the Todos Santos Mountain King was extinct, because of feral cats.

That was right up until I found a freshly shed skin.

I bet everyone who has looked for catalinensis would like to believe that it is extinct, but the truth is that they are just really hard to find on that hell hole of an island.

Just because nobody can find one, doesn't mean they are extinct ;)
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