Animalz

Common Leopard Gecko

Eublepharis macularius

In experiments, shed-snake chemical cues triggered defensive responses, and adding other sensory cues increased tongue-flicking.[2][3]

Size and lifespan

Body length
maximum in a source 17 cm[4][5]
Body length
female Reported size 11.89 cm[4]
Body length
female · adult Reported size 11.89 cm[5]
Body length
newly hatched or born Reported size 5.05 cm[5]

Appearance

Its yellow to orange body has dark spots, movable eyelids and a thick tail.[3]

Life

It stores fat in its tail and can use it for energy when food is scarce.[3]

In a captive experiment with 42 adult geckos, chemical cues from shed snake skin triggered defensive responses. Visual or mechanosensory cues alone did not increase tongue-flicking, but tongue-flicking increased when they were combined with chemical cues.[2]

Places

Native range · South Asia[3]

It is native to Afghanistan, Pakistan, northwestern India, western Nepal and parts of Iran.

Sources

  1. Catalogue of Life 2026-09-25 XR

    Catalogue of Life · 2026-10-13

  2. Response of leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) towards a multimodal cue simulating a predator

    Behavioral Ecology 37(4), arag062; Oxford Academic / PMC · 2026-10-25

  3. Leopard gecko

    Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia · 2026-10-25

  4. ReptTraits v4: reported total, snout–vent and straight carapace lengths (Oskyrko et al., 2024)

    Oskyrko, Mi, Meiri and Du / Figshare · 2026-10-27

  5. SquamBase 1.0: reported maximum, adult female and hatchling/neonate lengths (Meiri, 2024)

    Shai Meiri / Dryad · 2026-10-27

Report a mistake