Geckos

Geckos began their migration from the Pacific Rim thousands of years ago, some "stowing away" on the canoes of unsuspecting sea voyagers; others beginning colonization from eggs deposited under the bark of logs subsequently swept out to sea and washed up on a distant shore. As humans graduated from forest and land dwelling, building cities in which artificial lights illuminate the night skies attracting billions of insects, geckos also graduated from their original habitats to these new urban feasting grounds. Today, flicking on the light in the middle of the night in apartments, homes, and even tall office buildings in many parts of the world, one may interrupt the nocturnal feeding foray of one of these little creatures.

Only a small number of gecko species occur in North America. The tiny, two-inch leaf-toed gecko or Phyllodactylus tuberculoses, leaf-toed gecko, thrives in southwestern Californian among the rocks of semiarid lower mountain regions and canyon lands. The banded gecko inhabits southern California's coastal plains, rocky deserts, juniper-covered hillsides, and sand dunes. Several species of West Indian geckos are now established in Florida, and many different species thrive on the Hawaiian islands.