Southern leaf-tailed gecko, Phyllurus platurus, at Glenbrook, New South Wales, Australia.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D, Pop-up flash, Mini diffuser
ISO 200, 1/250s, f/16, EV+1.3
We’ve had a southern leaf-tailed gecko living in the wall cavity near our laundry door for a number of years. I only see it at night ad only during the warmer months (and not every night). In early November, I saw it without a tail and wasn’t sure if it would regrow the tail. The next time I saw it, at the end of November, it had started to grow the tail back. The tail is now fully grown.
This shot was taken on 29 November, with the tail only just growing back.
Cool! We were playing with one tonight… it got stuck inside and my daughter was worried about it. It ended up climbing all the way up to my neck at the back and I had to take my shirt off to get it off me!!! They’re cute little things aren’t they? We have a family in our laundry. I have never seen one like this before though, the tail really looks so different to the body! Did you know that they change colour slightly as well?
Thanks, Catherine, they are very cool. We have quite a few living around our place. The appear to vary their colour based on their surroundings. Here’s one on bark:
Wow Andrew, it looks like the Ace of Spades. Does the tail assume the same colourings as the body after it finishes regrowing?
I thought of the Ace of Spades when I saw it, too. I assume the tail will be the same colour as the body once it grows but I’ll only find out when I next see it.
Lovely capture of this interesting fellow Andrew ! I haven’t seen this variety, but I have seen many lizards including Blue-tongue with tails grown back in my backyard.
Thanks, Trish. I was well aware that skinks and dragons could regrow their tails and I suspected that geckos and monitors could too, but I had never seen it. The tail on these guys is so different, I wondered how they would do it. Now I know. This is how it should look:
Awesome shots! We found one swimming in the toilet, when we fished him out (poor little thing) he was very cold and tired. While holding him, as he was too tired to be very active, we were able to watch him change colour… maybe the warmth of my hand, it was like he was blushing!
Comments
Cool! We were playing with one tonight… it got stuck inside and my daughter was worried about it. It ended up climbing all the way up to my neck at the back and I had to take my shirt off to get it off me!!! They’re cute little things aren’t they? We have a family in our laundry. I have never seen one like this before though, the tail really looks so different to the body! Did you know that they change colour slightly as well?
Thanks, Catherine, they are very cool. We have quite a few living around our place. The appear to vary their colour based on their surroundings. Here’s one on bark:
– Andrew Trevor-Jones
Wow Andrew, it looks like the Ace of Spades. Does the tail assume the same colourings as the body after it finishes regrowing?
I thought of the Ace of Spades when I saw it, too. I assume the tail will be the same colour as the body once it grows but I’ll only find out when I next see it.
– Andrew Trevor-Jones
( To help us tidy up the group it would be appreciated if you could remove as many of your older works as possible – Thanks Ray )
If you have already done this THANK YOU
Lovely capture of this interesting fellow Andrew ! I haven’t seen this variety, but I have seen many lizards including Blue-tongue with tails grown back in my backyard.
Thanks, Trish.
I was well aware that skinks and dragons could regrow their tails and I suspected that geckos and monitors could too, but I had never seen it. The tail on these guys is so different, I wondered how they would do it. Now I know. This is how it should look:
– Andrew Trevor-Jones
Amazing image and history.
I’ll post the next image later today.
– Andrew Trevor-Jones
The following shot was taken 6 weeks later:
Awesome shots! We found one swimming in the toilet, when we fished him out (poor little thing) he was very cold and tired. While holding him, as he was too tired to be very active, we were able to watch him change colour… maybe the warmth of my hand, it was like he was blushing!
It could have also been fear…
– Andrew Trevor-Jones
How wonderful ! Love the changing colours in different locations … a lovely unique little creature … I would love to see one …
I guess it depends on where you live if you get one. We never saw any at our old place which is only around one kilometre from our current place.
– Andrew Trevor-Jones