(tense music)
- Look at him!
Right there, you see it?
It is a turnip-tailed gecko,
the largest gecko species in this area.
Got it, yes!
Got it, wow, this one, ooh!
Don't bite, don't bite, don't bite!
(tribal theme music)
Bite my finger, bite my finger!
Oh, look at those teeth!
- [Mark] What'd you get?
- Mark, you got here, too, perfect timing!
- [Mark] I heard some commotion from the roof.
- Ha, yes, what you were looking at there,
with those open jaws that just chomped on my fingers,
is the turnip-tailed gecko,
the largest gecko species here in Costa Rica.
Now, we've had little house geckos
all over our little lodge here and on these sheds,
and every night I've come out
with my flashlight looking for this species.
Look at how incredible that reptile is!
Mark, zoom in on it's eyes, there.
Looks just like the eyeball of a velociraptor.
Here's a little fact you may not know.
Stan Winston Studios, who did all
the design work for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park,
actually used gecko eyes as influence
on eye design for the velociraptor.
- [Mark] Really?
- Yep, look at that eyeball!
I mean, the vertical pupil, it's yellow,
all those little black lines running through it.
That is 100% a velociraptor eyeball, right there.
Now, these geckos have a very, ow!
You bite me again, that's okay!
Keep your focus on my finger, and not on your tail.
Look at the tail of this lizard.
These lizards are capable of dropping their tail,
so let's say a predator comes into the environment
and tries to catch it.
It only gets the tail.
It can detach the tail, allowing the lizard to escape.
In this particular instance, it looks like
whenever the lizard last dropped it's tail off,
two of them actually grew back.
Now, I have to be very, very gentle with this lizard.
When I caught it, I needed to make sure
that I caught it by the body and not the tail.
This tail is very important,
because it's actually a fat reserve for the lizard.
If for some reason it runs out of bugs to eat,
then it can live off of those
fat reserves for quite some time.
Now, these lizards are insectivores,
which means that they're going after bugs.
Oh, I see you open up your mouth.
Moths, beetles, anything that is up here
flying around by these lights is fair game.
Let's look at it's camouflage.
Look at that, it looks just like tree bark.
If this lizard was up in the treetops,
there's no way that you would see it.
The way that I was able to spot it, watch this.
Look at that, right on the side of the building,
and it shows up pretty easily, doesn't it?
- [Mark] Oh yeah, big contrast.
- Now, it thought that it was camouflaged,
so it stayed completely still as I walked up.
Mario, I honestly didn't think that I was gonna catch it,
'cause a lot of these little house geckos that are out here,
as soon as they see a flashlight,
they skitter off up into the rafters.
But this one, oh, look at that.
You see that?
His pads, he's actually holding on
to the side of the building.
Alright, we're gonna bring you back over here for a second.
While we're on the topic of those pads,
let's take a look at this lizard's feet.
Oh, don't you bite me again!
I can see him starting to rear up.
I'm gonna just bring his little hand out here.
Look at that!
Now they have claws on the tips of their fingers,
but they also have split pads.
Those pads are unbelievably sticky,
and the back feet, look at that.
They look just like leaves or lichens,
and he is completely gripping onto my thumb.
Here, Mario, you're gonna hold hands with this gecko.
Here, put your finger out there.
- [Mario] What's up, dude?
- [Coyote] Give him a little high five.
Can you feel that?
- [Mario] Woah!
- [Coyote] Look at that!
- [Mario] It's like velcro.
- Yep, completely sticks to pretty much any surface.
This gecko can run right over glass.
Now, let's look at this real quick,
since he got his mouth open.
Can you see the color of that lizard's tongue?
- [Mark] Yeah, it looks, uh, like a dark blue, almost black.
- It is, that's one of the most
unique features about this gecko.
It has a dark blue tongue.
That tongue is very sticky,
so they can sit there and wait for their prey to approach,
open up their mouth, and the blurp,
kind of like a toad or a frog.
Blurp, that's the noise that they make.
Well, I make that noise.
- [Mark] (laughs) Wait, let's hear it one more time.
- Blurp, like that.
They stick that tongue onto a bug,
and then, boom, right into those chompers.
And I will tell you, this lizard has
quite the powerful punch behind it's bite.
Didn't break skin, but every time he nips me, I'm like, agh!
I can definitely feel it.
- [Mark] Alright, well, it's starting to rain.
I think it's about time to let the gecko go.
- Yeah, definitely.
Well, how cool was this though?
Right here, behind our lodge On Location,
and I managed to catch a two tailed turnip-tailed gecko.
Try saying that 10 times fast.
- [Mark] No thanks!
(laughs)
- I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave,
stay wild, we'll see you on the next location.
Alright, back to catching bugs!
If you thought this gecko was a cool lizard,
make sure to go back and watch
my encounter with the monkey tailed anole.
And don't forget, subscribe,
so you can join me and the crew on out next location.
Hey, look at that, look at that!
It's almost like an upside down yoga pose.
(coyote howls)
(birds chirp)