Journal articles: 'Tokay geckos as pets'

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Reese, David J., JM Kinsella, Jacqueline M. Zdziarski, Qi-Yun Zeng, and Ellis C. Greiner. "Parasites in 30 Captive Tokay Geckos, Gekko gecko." Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery 14, no. 2 (January 2004): 21–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.5818/1529-9651.14.2.21.

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Lepore, E., S. Brianza, F. Antoniolli, M. Buono, A. Carpinteri, and N. Pugno. "Preliminary In Vivo Experiments on Adhesion of Geckos." Journal of Nanomaterials 2008 (2008): 1–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2008/194524.

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We performed preliminary experiments on the adhesion of a Tokay gecko on surfaces with different roughness, with or without particles with significant different granulometry, before/after or during the moult. The results were analyzed using the Weibull statistics.

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Pugno, Nicola M., and Emiliano Lepore. "Living Tokay Geckos Display Adhesion Times Following Weibull Statistics." Journal of Adhesion 84, no. 11 (November 19, 2008): 947–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00218460802505374.

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Lepore, Emiliano, Francesco Pugno, and Nicola M. Pugno. "Optimal Angles for Maximal Adhesion in Living Tokay Geckos." Journal of Adhesion 88, no. 10 (October 2012): 820–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00218464.2012.705639.

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Qin, Xin-min, Fang Qian, De-long Zeng, Xiao-can Liu, and Hui-min Li. "Complete mitochondrial genome of the red-spotted tokay gecko (Gekko gecko, Reptilia: Gekkonidae): Comparison of red- and black-spotted tokay geckos." Mitochondrial DNA 22, no. 5-6 (October 2011): 176–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/19401736.2011.636440.

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Stewart, William J., and Timothy E. Higham. "Passively stuck: death does not affect gecko adhesion strength." Biology Letters 10, no. 12 (December 2014): 20140701. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0701.

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Many geckos use adhesive toe pads on the bottom of their digits to attach to surfaces with remarkable strength. Although gecko adhesion has been studied for hundreds of years, gaps exist in our understanding at the whole-animal level. It remains unclear whether the strength and maintenance of adhesion are determined by the animal or are passively intrinsic to the system. Here we show, for the first time, that strong adhesion is produced passively at the whole-animal level. Experiments on both live and recently euthanized tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ) revealed that death does not affect the dynamic adhesive force or motion of a gecko foot when pulled along a vertical surface. Using a novel device that applied repeatable and steady-increasing pulling forces to the foot in shear, we found that the adhesive force was similarly high and variable when the animal was alive (mean ± s.d. = 5.4 ± 1.7 N) and within 30 min after death (5.4 ± 2.1 N). However, kinematic analyses showed that live geckos are able to control the degree of toe pad engagement and can rapidly stop strong adhesion by hyperextending the toes. This study offers the first assessment of whole-animal adhesive force under extremely controlled conditions. Our findings reveal that dead geckos maintain the ability to adhere with the same force as living animals, disproving that strong adhesion requires active control.

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Smith, Katherine F., Michael J. Yabsley, Susan Sanchez, Christine L. Casey, Michael D. Behrens, and Sonia M. Hernandez. "SalmonellaIsolates from Wild-Caught Tokay Geckos (Gekko gecko) Imported to the U.S. from Indonesia." Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases 12, no. 7 (July 2012): 575–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2011.0899.

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Brumm, Henrik, and Sue Anne Zollinger. "Vocal plasticity in a reptile." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284, no. 1855 (May 24, 2017): 20170451. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0451.

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Sophisticated vocal communication systems of birds and mammals, including human speech, are characterized by a high degree of plasticity in which signals are individually adjusted in response to changes in the environment. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first evidence for vocal plasticity in a reptile. Like birds and mammals, tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ) increased the duration of brief call notes in the presence of broadcast noise compared to quiet conditions, a behaviour that facilitates signal detection by receivers. By contrast, they did not adjust the amplitudes of their call syllables in noise (the Lombard effect), which is in line with the hypothesis that the Lombard effect has evolved independently in birds and mammals. However, the geckos used a different strategy to increase signal-to-noise ratios: instead of increasing the amplitude of a given call type when exposed to noise, the subjects produced more high-amplitude syllable types from their repertoire. Our findings demonstrate that reptile vocalizations are much more flexible than previously thought, including elaborate vocal plasticity that is also important for the complex signalling systems of birds and mammals. We suggest that signal detection constraints are one of the major forces driving the evolution of animal communication systems across different taxa.

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Valdez, Jose W. "Using Google Trends to Determine Current, Past, and Future Trends in the Reptile Pet Trade." Animals 11, no. 3 (March 3, 2021): 676. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11030676.

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Reptiles are one of the most popular exotic pets in the world, with over a third of all described species currently being traded. However, the most commonly available reptiles are typically non-threatened, captive-bred, and/or domestically obtained, which means they are also largely unregulated and unmonitored, resulting in a large portion of the reptile pet trade remaining unknown. In this study, the past, current, and future trends of the most popular reptiles in the pet trade were examined. Google Trends was used to determine the global popularity of the most popular pets from 2004 to 2020 and compared to the results from an online survey sent to individuals involved in the reptile trade. The most popular pets from the previous five years were also compared globally across regions and countries. The results determined that the most popular reptile species during the last decade is by far bearded dragons, followed by ball pythons and leopard geckos. Although the survey results were similar when asked what the top reptiles were, most respondents named ball pythons as the most popular reptile. However, when asked what reptiles had lost the most popularity during the previous decade, the survey respondents named green iguanas, Burmese pythons, chameleons, red-eared sliders, and green anoles, concurring with what was found with Google Trends. The reptiles thought to be more popular in the upcoming decade by the survey participants were blue-tongued skinks, tegus, uromastyx, crested geckos, and ball pythons—most of which did indeed show an increase in popularity during the last decade, as indicated with Google Trends. The results from Google Trends demonstrated that ball pythons and crested geckos have increased their popularity more than any other reptile in the last two decades. Reptile popularity also differed between countries, with bearded dragons the most popular reptile in Australia, Western Europe, the U.S., and Canada. Leopard geckos were the most popular reptile in Italy and Turkey, and ball pythons were the reptile of choice in Mexico, Indonesia, and India. The general finding of this study is that the reptiles declining in popularity were mostly wild-caught or restricted due to regulations, while current and future species were captive-bred and available in many varieties or morphs. The most popular species were also docile, medium-sized, and easy to handle, with relatively simple care requirements. This study demonstrates that Google Trends can be a useful tool for determining relative popularity among reptiles, or any other pet group, with results closely mirroring those obtained through direct surveying of people involved in the pet trade. However, unlike surveys, this analysis is quick, quantifiable, and can show what is popular and in-demand not only at the global level but at much finer scales. Thus, Google Trends can be a valuable tool in many research applications, especially in topics that may otherwise be difficult to monitor and quantify.

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Casey, Christine L., Sonia M. Hernandez, Michael J. Yabsley, Katherine F. Smith, and Susan Sanchez. "The carriage of antibiotic resistance by enteric bacteria from imported tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) destined for the pet trade." Science of The Total Environment 505 (February 2015): 299–305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.09.102.

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Casey, Christine L., Sonia M. Hernandez, Michael J. Yabsley, Katherine F. Smith, and Susan Sanchez. "The Influence of the Conditions of the Pet Trade on the Commensal Gastrointestinal Flora of Wild-Caught Tokay Geckos (Gekko gecko)." Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery 23, no. 3 (September 1, 2013): 74. http://dx.doi.org/10.5818/1529-9651-23.3.74.

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12

Gravish, Nick, Matt Wilkinson, and Kellar Autumn. "Frictional and elastic energy in gecko adhesive detachment." Journal of The Royal Society Interface 5, no. 20 (June 13, 2007): 339–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2007.1077.

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Geckos use millions of adhesive setae on their toes to climb vertical surfaces at speeds of over 1 m s −1 . Climbing presents a significant challenge for an adhesive since it requires both strong attachment and easy, rapid removal. Conventional pressure-sensitive adhesives are either strong and difficult to remove (e.g. duct tape) or weak and easy to remove (e.g. sticky notes). We discovered that the energy required to detach adhering tokay gecko setae ( W d ) is modulated by the angle ( θ ) of a linear path of detachment. Gecko setae resist detachment when dragged towards the animal during detachment ( θ =30°) requiring W d =5.0±0.86 (s.e.) J m −2 to detach, largely due to frictional losses. This external frictional loss is analogous to viscous internal frictional losses during detachment of pressure-sensitive adhesives. We found that, remarkably, setae possess a built-in release mechanism. Setae acted as springs when loaded in tension during attachment and returned elastic energy when detached along the optimal path ( θ =130°), resulting in W d =−0.8±0.12 J m −2 . The release of elastic energy from the setal shaft probably causes spontaneous release, suggesting that curved shafts may enable easy detachment in natural, and synthetic, gecko adhesives.

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Hawkes, Elliot W., Eric V. Eason, David L. Christensen, and Mark R. Cutkosky. "Human climbing with efficiently scaled gecko-inspired dry adhesives." Journal of The Royal Society Interface 12, no. 102 (January 2015): 20140675. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0675.

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Since the discovery of the mechanism of adhesion in geckos, many synthetic dry adhesives have been developed with desirable gecko-like properties such as reusability, directionality, self-cleaning ability, rough surface adhesion and high adhesive stress. However, fully exploiting these adhesives in practical applications at different length scales requires efficient scaling (i.e. with little loss in adhesion as area grows). Just as natural gecko adhesives have been used as a benchmark for synthetic materials, so can gecko adhesion systems provide a baseline for scaling efficiency. In the tokay gecko ( Gekko gecko ), a scaling power law has been reported relating the maximum shear stress σ max to the area A : σ max ∝ A −1/4 . We present a mechanical concept which improves upon the gecko's non-uniform load-sharing and results in a nearly even load distribution over multiple patches of gecko-inspired adhesive. We created a synthetic adhesion system incorporating this concept which shows efficient scaling across four orders of magnitude of area, yielding an improved scaling power law: σ max ∝ A −1/50 . Furthermore, we found that the synthetic adhesion system does not fail catastrophically when a simulated failure is induced on a portion of the adhesive. In a practical demonstration, the synthetic adhesion system enabled a 70 kg human to climb vertical glass with 140 cm 2 of adhesive per hand.

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Wang, Zhongyuan, Stanislav N. Gorb, and Zhendong Dai. "Control strategies of gecko’s toe in response to reduced gravity." Applied Sciences 10, no. 7 (March 26, 2020): 2257. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app10072257.

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Shear-induced adhesion is one of the key properties for the gecko moving safely and quickly in a three-dimensional environment. The control strategies of such locomotion strongly relying on adhesion are still not well understood. In this study, we measured foot alignment and three-dimensional reaction forces of the single toes of the Tokay gecko running on the ground freely (gravity condition) and running in a situation where the gravity force was counterbalanced (reduced gravity condition). The forelimb rotated from the outward position to the front-facing position and the hindlimb rotated from the outward position to the rear-facing position, when running with balanced force, which indicated that the adhesive system was employed behaviorally through the modulation of the foot alignment. The toe was compressed and pulled in the gravity condition, but it was tensed and pulled in the reduced gravity condition. There was an approximately linear relationship between peak normal forces and the corresponding shear forces in both the reduced gravity condition (FN = −0.40FS − 0.008) and the gravity condition (FN = 2.70FS − 0.12). The footpad was compressed and pushed in the gravity condition, whereas it was tensed and pulled in the reduced gravity condition. There was an approximately linear relationship between peak normal forces and the corresponding shear forces in both the reduced gravity condition (FN = −0.39FS − 0.001) and in the gravity condition (FN = −2.80FS − 0.08). The shear-induced adhesion of the gecko footpad is controlled by the coupling of the normal force and shear forces: that is why in this system adhesion was shear-sensitive and friction was load-sensitive. Our measurements of single toe reaction forces also show that geckos control their footpad attachment using ‘toe rolling-in and gripping’ motion in both gravity and reduced gravity conditions.

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Garner, Austin M., Alexandra M. Pamfilie, Ali Dhinojwala, and Peter H. Niewiarowski. "Tokay geckos (Gekkonidae: Gekko gecko) preferentially use substrates that elicit maximal adhesive performance." Journal of Experimental Biology 224, no. 4 (February 15, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.241240.

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ABSTRACT Gecko substrate use is likely influenced by adhesive performance, yet few studies have demonstrated this empirically. Herein, we examined the substrate use, adhesive performance and vertical clinging behaviour of Gekko gecko in captivity to investigate whether adhesive performance influences patterns of substrate use. We found that geckos were observed significantly more often on the substrate (glass) that elicited maximal adhesive performance relative to its availability within our experimental enclosures, indicating that geckos preferentially use substrates on which their adhesive performance is maximal. Our work here provides additional, yet crucial data establishing connections between adhesive performance and patterns of substrate use in captivity, suggesting the hypothesis that substrate preferences of free-ranging geckos should be correlated with adhesive performance. Clearly, further experimental and field research is necessary to test this hypothesis and identify other parameters that individually and/or collectively influence the habitat use of free-ranging geckos.

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Mitchell, Christopher T., Cem Balda Dayan, Dirk-M. Drotlef, Metin Sitti, and Alyssa Y. Stark. "The effect of substrate wettability and modulus on gecko and gecko-inspired synthetic adhesion in variable temperature and humidity." Scientific Reports 10, no. 1 (November 12, 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76484-6.

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AbstractGecko adhesive performance increases as relative humidity increases. Two primary mechanisms can explain this result: capillary adhesion and increased contact area via material softening. Both hypotheses consider variable relative humidity, but neither fully explains the interactive effects of temperature and relative humidity on live gecko adhesion. In this study, we used live tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) and a gecko-inspired synthetic adhesive to investigate the roles of capillary adhesion and material softening on gecko adhesive performance. The results of our study suggest that both capillary adhesion and material softening contribute to overall gecko adhesion, but the relative contribution of each depends on the environmental context. Specifically, capillary adhesion dominates on hydrophilic substrates, and material softening dominates on hydrophobic substrates. At low temperature (12 °C), both capillary adhesion and material softening likely produce high adhesion across a range of relative humidity values. At high temperature (32 °C), material softening plays a dominant role in adhesive performance at an intermediate relative humidity (i.e., 70% RH).

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Russell, Anthony P., and Austin M. Garner. "Setal Field Transects, Evolutionary Transitions and Gecko–Anole Convergence Provide Insights Into the Fundamentals of Form and Function of the Digital Adhesive System of Lizards." Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering 6 (January 27, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmech.2020.621741.

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Recent years have witnessed a multitude of studies focusing on gekkotan adhesion. Intense interest in this phenomenon was triggered by the discovery of the manner and magnitude of the forces generated by the hair-like filaments (setae) on the toe pads and inspired the development of the next generation of smart, reversible synthetic adhesives. Most studies pursuing these goals have concentrated on the generalized form and properties of gekkotan setae outlined in those key early studies, resulting in the fabrication of synthetic filaments of uniform dimensions. Although there are over 1,800 species of extant geckos, and hundreds of species of anoles (a separate lizard lineage that has convergently evolved adhesive toe pads), most investigations have used relatively few species as the source of basic information, the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) being the most prominent among these. Such exemplar taxa generally exhibit structurally intricate setae and morphologically complex configurations of the adhesive apparatus. Setal structure taken to be characteristic of these taxa is generally reported by singular statements of maximal length, diameter, density and branching pattern. Contemporaneous work focusing on the configuration of setae at locations across the toe pads and upon the evolutionary origin of adhesively competent digits in anoles and specific lineages of geckos, however, has revealed extensive variation of setal structure within individuals, information about how setae may have arisen from non-adhesive filamentous precursors, and how newly adhesively competent digits have been integrated into pre-existing patterns of locomotor mechanics and kinematics. Such observations provide insights into what is minimally necessary for adhesively competent digits to function and reveal the simplest configuration of components that make this possible. We contend that information gleaned from such studies will assist those seeking to employ the principles of fibrillar-based adhesion, as exemplified by lizards, for bio-inspired applications.

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Journal articles on the topic 'Tokay geckos as pets'

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