James Whitmore Other Animals
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JAMES WHITMORE SOUTHERN MARBLED GECKOS
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RUPERT WEAVER
t is a summer evening in suburban Melbourne, and an invasion by stealth has begun, creeping in as the last shadows of day flee. The sky fades through dusky orange to navy, and eyes with a Midas touch and a cat’s pupil glisten; a sly and silent predator is paying her visit. She sits motionless while her prey— moths, mosquitoes, crickets— dance, enraptured by warm household lights. When the opportune moment arises, her moist, sticky tongue delivers a swift death upon the chosen victim. At five centimetres long and two-and-a-half grams in weight, the southern marbled gecko hardly appears to be a monster of God but, like a Russian spy, appearances can be deceptive. Generally brown or greyskinned, with a marbled pattern that aids in camouflage, it is those golden eyes that hold the most allure. This femme fatale has a host of adaptations that make her not only a super-efficient assassin, but an invader of suburban sense and sensibilities. Creatures such as these have long been labelled ‘cold-blooded’, but this is a very poor description indeed. Despite avoiding sunlight, these geckos are able to maintain body temperature above that of their surroundings. You would think any gentlemen would be overjoyed to discover that his fair-skinned maiden is not as cold as a rock but is in fact a fiery madame. Such fellows would do well to treat a female gecko with caution and respect. With daylight the geckos retire to cracks amongst bark and plaster like a wife of the Raj retreating to the foothills, to await their nocturnal escapades. Few males are permitted to disturb the peace of these enclaves and of those that are only a little is known of their dalliances. In farragomagazine.com
truth, males are rather less valuable than might be expected. The females are able to store sperm in their bodies across seasons; the male is required for little more than a donation. The traditional lands of the marbled gecko are the woods and heaths of the Victorian hinterland, but many are unable to resist the allure of city lights and the swarming crowds of insects they attract. While the human settlers toiled in the burning sun, the geckos hitched rides in their timber and ornamental plants. There they bred like reds under the bed until dawn rose on their sunset existence. Geckos have taken to the urban frontier better than any among their reptilian family. The carnivorous, and enormous, Tokay Gecko stalks the ceilings of Southeast Asian cities. In the classical world, Mediterranean House Geckos found civilized existence their ideal lifestyle. There is another, more disturbing, explanation for the gecko’s success. A few species of gecko have discovered the power of parthenogenesis. The males of the species are cast aside, castrated, emasculated like a eunuch. The females are capable of generating a newborn without the labours of a doting male; the offspring essentially clones. A single female is capable of starting a whole dynasty of queens. A female gives birth, then her daughters give birth, then their daughters, and so forth until a many-headed Hydra is created, regenerating even as it is destroyed. The mourning gecko—an apt name indeed for the dispossessed gender—now has a worldwide distribution thanks to this witchery, including the Northern Territory and Queensland. An army of female clones is the stuff of nightmares, and any suburb might be next on the hit list.
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