something i forgot to mention on saturday
i may or may not have mentioned previously that we have tokay geckos living wild all over the Small Mammal House. we'll encounter them occasionally, and there are some that have staked out territories in various places. for example, there's one that lives around the back wall of the lemur exhibit, and who knows that we often toss mealworms up on the ledge on the back wall for Goldie (the golden-breasted starling). he'll often come creeping down the wall when he hears keepers come in at certain times of the day, b/c he knows he's getting a snack.
anyway, there's also one HUGE one (i believe he's the one they refer to as Goliath, although that could also be the one in the lemur exhibit) that lives in the kitchen area downstairs. on saturday, i was down there by myself making some food, and all of a sudden i heard this sort of chirping, cooing noise. scared the crap outta me -- i thought some animal had gotten loose, or that a bird (possibly a small owl, from the sound of it) had gotten in somewhere. so i walked around, trying to pinpoint the noise, and realized it was coming out of a hole in the ceiling, and then saw a large gecko face poking out. sure enough, a minute later, it started up again, and i could see it opening its mouth to make the noise. i had NO IDEA they made noises like that!
if you want to hear a very similar example, there's a sound bite on the wiki page i linked to above, on the left side of the page about a third of the way down. it's awesome.
anyway, there's also one HUGE one (i believe he's the one they refer to as Goliath, although that could also be the one in the lemur exhibit) that lives in the kitchen area downstairs. on saturday, i was down there by myself making some food, and all of a sudden i heard this sort of chirping, cooing noise. scared the crap outta me -- i thought some animal had gotten loose, or that a bird (possibly a small owl, from the sound of it) had gotten in somewhere. so i walked around, trying to pinpoint the noise, and realized it was coming out of a hole in the ceiling, and then saw a large gecko face poking out. sure enough, a minute later, it started up again, and i could see it opening its mouth to make the noise. i had NO IDEA they made noises like that!
if you want to hear a very similar example, there's a sound bite on the wiki page i linked to above, on the left side of the page about a third of the way down. it's awesome.