Gold Dust Day Geckos
Geckos are ubiquitous throughout the Hawaiian Islands today, but that was not always the case. Though lizards can colonize islands by clinging to drifting trees and plant material, the Hawaiian archipelago’s extreme isolation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean likely prevented any terrestrial reptiles from reaching our shores. It was only after humans arrived in Hawaiʻi that reptiles and amphibians found passage aboard canoes, ships, and eventually planes. Thus began the waves of introduced geckos, skinks, frogs, and chameleons that came and spread throughout the Islands.
The first lizards stowed away with Polynesians in large oceangoing canoes. Mourning geckos, stump-toed geckos, tree geckos, Indo-Pacific geckos, snake-eyed skinks, moth skinks, copper-tailed skinks, and the now-extinct azure-tailed skinks were already established in Hawaiʻi when Captain Cook arrived.
Though it may be impossible to measure the impact these small lizards had, the arrival of voracious, insect-eaters in an ecosystem that evolved over millennia without lizards or amphibians would inevitably result in a decline in native insects. This is problematic for Hawaiʻi, which has tens of thousands of unique invertebrates—many of which exist nowhere else on Earth and have yet to be described by science.
The giant Madagascar day gecko was illegally introduced to the state. Any sightings of the large 12 inch long moʻo should be immediately reported to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture at 634-PEST (7378). Photo by MrTinDC, Flikr.
The giant Madagascar day gecko was illegally introduced to the state. Any sightings of the large 12 inch long moʻo should be immediately reported to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture at 643-PEST (7378). Photo by MrTinDC, Flikr.
The eight Polynesian-introduced geckos and skinks are still present in Hawaiʻi, but a few recent introductions have stolen the spotlight. Common house geckos only showed up in the last 60 years or so. They most likely hitchhiked to Hawaiʻi in the 1940s in cargo moved around the Pacific. Aggressive and territorial, they’ve outcompeted mourning geckos and others for the prized perch near the porch light
Gold Dust Day Geckos
Geckos are ubiquitous throughout the Hawaiian Islands today, but that was not always the case. Though lizards can colonize islands by clinging to drifting trees and plant material, the Hawaiian archipelago’s extreme isolation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean likely prevented any terrestrial reptiles from reaching our shores. It was only after humans arrived in Hawaiʻi that reptiles and amphibians found passage aboard canoes, ships, and eventually planes. Thus began the waves of introduced geckos, skinks, frogs, and chameleons that came and spread throughout the Islands.
The first lizards stowed away with Polynesians in large oceangoing canoes. Mourning geckos, stump-toed geckos, tree geckos, Indo-Pacific geckos, snake-eyed skinks, moth skinks, copper-tailed skinks, and the now-extinct azure-tailed skinks were already established in Hawaiʻi when Captain Cook arrived.
Though it may be impossible to measure the impact these small lizards had, the arrival of voracious, insect-eaters in an ecosystem that evolved over millennia without lizards or amphibians would inevitably result in a decline in native insects. This is problematic for Hawaiʻi, which has tens of thousands of unique invertebrates—many of which exist nowhere else on Earth and have yet to be described by science.
The giant Madagascar day gecko was illegally introduced to the state. Any sightings of the large 12 inch long moʻo should be immediately reported to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture at 634-PEST (7378). Photo by MrTinDC, Flikr.
The giant Madagascar day gecko was illegally introduced to the state. Any sightings of the large 12 inch long moʻo should be immediately reported to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture at 643-PEST (7378). Photo by MrTinDC, Flikr.
The eight Polynesian-introduced geckos and skinks are still present in Hawaiʻi, but a few recent introductions have stolen the spotlight. Common house geckos only showed up in the last 60 years or so. They most likely hitchhiked to Hawaiʻi in the 1940s in cargo moved around the Pacific. Aggressive and territorial, they’ve outcompeted mourning geckos and others for the prized perch near the porch light