Celebrating its 65th anniversary this year, Zoo Debrecen has a significant collection acquisition and development project to report on after long preparations, with the arrival of two unique gecko species, a Huulien leopard gecko and a Chinese eyelid gecko, from Cologne Zoo (Germany). Yet to be sexed due to their young age, the newcomers have now been given an introduction to their future home – a naturalistic mixed species terrarium with dense vegetation designed to accommodate their special climatic needs, already home to endangered Chinese crocodile lizards ever since it was first unveiled earlier this year on World Wildlife Day.
All three lizard species are native to rainforests in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, one of the world’s largest biodiversity hotspots now facing drastic losses of flora and fauna due to deforestation and illegal wildlife trade. This region is in the focus of the next two-year conservation campaign to be launched by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), which Zoo Debrecen aims to promote with this new terrarium complex coupled with a new zoo education corner in support of native and exotic reptile conservation. Several of the 25 extant cave gecko species within the genus Goniurosaurus have only been discovered in the past couple of years – long after they were driven to the brink of extinction by human activities in the wild, meaning other species may well become extinct before we even get to know them.
Chinese eyelid geckos (Goniurosaurus luii) are native to tropical rainforests on the border of China and Vietnam while their rarer cousins, Huulien leopard geckos (Goniurosaurus huuliensis) are restricted to a handful of small nature reserves in Northeast Vietnam. Both species feed mainly on small insects, foraging at night and spending the day hiding in caves, crevices and tree holes. Unlike a lot of other geckos, they lack adhesive toe pads and instead rely on their strong claws for climbing. Due to anthropogenic threats, both of them are Threatened according to the IUCN Red List, with Huulien leopard geckos listed as Critically Endangered. They are quite rare in zoos, with only a couple of holders worldwide and no more than two other institutions, Cologne and Singapore Zoo, to exhibit both of them.
Dr. Gergely Sándor Nagy
CEO, Zoo Debrecen
