National Geographic Museum Blog

Geckos have been around for a long time, 50 million years according to some sources.  Their origins can be traced to Southeast Asia.  Over time & through the help of mankind no doubt, they have been dispersed to a wide variety of habitats throughout the world.  They can now be found in mountains, arid deserts, and tropical rainforests.  According to The Reptile Database http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/ there are now 1,319 species of Geckos described today.

Geckos have been captive pets in the herpetoculture industry for probably around 40 plus years.  Many species gained popularity rather quickly while others have taken longer to become ‘common’ in the reptile trade.  Most people know geckos from the popular Geico commercial which introduced most people to the species known as Phelsuma commonly known as Day Geckos.  For those involved in the reptile industry this species is known as delicate & is better left to experienced keepers.  For some, the Leopard Gecko Eublepharis macularius were their first reptile pet.

Guest blogger John F. Taylor is the author behind:
www.reptileapartment.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 at 10:40 am and is filed under geckos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.