The Gecko

Have you ever seen a gecko hunt? It is quite beautiful to watch. One evening as I sat at my desk, I looked up from my work on a lesson plan to see a green striped gecko crawl towards the light of my lamp. Two or three of them are always crawling on the walls of my room somewhere, and my guess is that this particular one noticed the plethora of moths on the other side of the mosquito net. My guest came towards the light, and noticing my presence raised its head to look at me more closely. The black eyes on top of its head reflected the light of the lamp, and it stayed in this position for a few seconds. I remained motionless, hoping to give my reptile friend permission to hunt in my domain. The gecko bowed its head in gratitude, and continued with its search for an evening meal.

After spotting an attainable quarry, the gecko steadied himself. With one quick reflex, it lunged, flew diagonally down the wall, opened its mouth, and swallowed a nearby moth. The tail and feet worked quickly to reattach the flat belly to the wall, and soon the creature was adroitly righted. A pink lizard tongue slithered out of the mouth, and licked up and over the teeth. Wasting no time, the gecko turned itself around and continued the hunt. With the same movements, it swallowed two more moths and a mosquito. The prey in this region soon got wise to the gecko’s actions, and moved away to other regions of the room beyond the green mosquito net.

The gecko moved away as well, and it crawled away into the darkness. From some corner of the room, it began its call; a sort of “Ack Ack Ack Ack!” clicking sound. I interpreted it as a form of thanks for the evening meal.

With all the bugs around, it is good to have a gecko nearby. It was also Thanksgiving day, and I am glad that at least one of us had a feast.