Masters of Camouflage

The Mysterious Leaf-Tailed Geckos

Leaf-tailed gecko in Peyrieras Reserve.

Welcome back! Madagascar is a country full of bizarre and unique species, but some of the most special are the leaf-tailed geckos. These geckos have developed skin patterns and textures that perfectly mimic their natural environment, including leaves, moss, tree bark, and more. Even their eyes blend in. Seeing these creatures in real life is mind-boggling: they look completely fake until they start moving, and even then they are hard to wrap your head around.

During my time in Madagascar, I was lucky enough to see a few of these geckos in the wild, but toward the end of our trip we visited a reptile reserve to see a few of them up close in a captive environment (this is also where many of the chameleon photos from one of my previous posts came from!).

Leaf-tailed Gecko in Peyrieras Reserve

Leaf-tailed geckos are found in only two places on earth: the roughly 18 species in the genus Uroplatus are from Madagascar, while the other two genuses, Saltuarius and Phyllurus are native to Australia. Even within the one genus found in Madagascar, there is incredible diversity in size, color, and mimicry. For example, the gecko above is meant to mimic dead leaves, with dull white, gray, beige, and brown coloration. Its patterns have sharp edges, giving the look of dried leaves. Its tail is even perfectly shaped like a leaf, complete with imperfections (see the cutouts) along the sides and line patterns similar to a leaf’s veins. The gecko below, on the other hand, is meant to mimic the moss that grows on the sides of trees, so its coloration has various shades of green. Its skin even has a bumpy, uneven texture, mimicking the look of actual moss.

Leaf-tailed gecko in Peyrieras Reserve.

One of the craziest parts about the camouflage these geckos have developed is their eyes. With other camouflaging animals, like the chameleons I discussed in a previous post, even though their skin blends in with their environment, their eyes still stick out as, well, eyes. With the leaf-tailed geckos, though, their eyes perfectly blend in with the colors and textures of the rest of their bodies, almost unsettlingly so. In the two photos below, you can see two different species with completely different body coloration and textures, both with eyes to match. It is hard to imagine that the geckos can even see out of those things,

Two different leaf-tailed geckos, in Peyrieras Reserve.

So far, all of the pictures have been of geckos I saw in captivity, where they were pointed out to us and placed against contrasting backgrounds that made it easier to see them. In the wild, though, it’s a completely different story. On one of our first days in the forest, our guide stopped the group suddenly while staring at a small tree next to the path. Confused, we all looked at each other. He told us that there was a moss-mimic leaf-tailed gecko on the tree, and asked if any of us could find it. After a solid couple minutes of searching, he pointed directly at it, at which point only about half of us realized it had been right in front of us the entire time. The other half still had no idea where it was. See if you can spot it in the photo below!

Leaf-tailed gecko in Ranomafana National Park

Leaf-tailed geckos are some of the most unique and unbelievable animals I’ve ever seen, and they really showcase the incredible depth of biodiversity found in Madagascar. Among the 18 species, some are endangered, while some are of least concern according to the IUCN. All of the species are threatened by habitat loss, as Madagascar’s tropical rainforests are getting smaller every day thanks to human activity. They are also prized in the illegal wildlife trade, due to their unique appearance and rarity.

Thank you so much for reading this week’s post, and let me know in the comments if you were able to see the gecko! I’ve also attached a photo below pointing it out: the arrow on the left points to its hand, and the arrow on the right points to its eye. Next week I will be back with more lemur photos, and these are some of my best!