Tokay Tokay

The Tokay Gecko (scientifically known as Gekko gecko) is a nocturnal tree-dwelling lizard ranging from northeast India and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia to western New Guinea. Its native habitat is rainforest trees and cliffs, and it also frequently adapts to rural human habitations, roaming walls and ceilings at night in search of insect prey.

Although present in Malaysia it is rarely encountered there, in fact I've never seen one in Borneo. In the Philippines it is quite common, and many rural house have a resident Tokay. This photo of a single male is taken in a house in Pagadian.

Males are said to be very territorial, and will attack other males Tokays as well as other Gecko species. They are solitary and only meet during the mating season. Females lay clutches of one or two hard shelled eggs which are guarded until they hatch.

I took the second photo inside the historic Makahambus Cave in Cagayan de Oro in 2006. It seems the adults as well as a whole brood of youngsters are helping to guard the clutch of eggs!


Tokays are renowned for their their loud vocalizations. Their mating call, a loud croak, is variously described as sounding like tokeh or gek-ko where both the common and the scientific name as well as the family name Gekkonidae and the generic term gecko come from.

Cikcak

WE who live in the tropics are so used to sharing our houses with the house gecko that we hardly notice them. It's usually only when they land their black and white droppings onto our belongings or even on us(!) that we curse them or try to chase them out - or worse when one of them lands on us! (Just imagine the fun if you're only an onlooker!) Otherwise we (lizard and us) co-exist quite peacefully. I think they do notice us though, and even listen to our conversation sometimes, busy-body lot they are! When they agree with what we say they will "chak-chak-chak" away, and as an "Amen" the superstitious among us would quickly knock on wood.

Well, the Malay name for them is cikcak, no doubt from the sound they make. The Bisayan people call them (as far as I know, not being one of them) butiki, also, I think, mimicking their retilian sound which they hear as "tiki, tiki, tiki" (I believe different people hear sounds differently from one another!). The Chinese however have a more noble name for these ninjas that climb walls and walk on ceilings! They call them 壁虎 pi-hu or "wall-tigers"! Which I think is not quite right, look at the close-up photo I took of one of these creatures! Doesn't it remind you more of a crocodile than a tiger? So I think they should be called "wall crocs" instead!