The Tokay gecko Challenge

Question 1 · multiple choice

Which landscape is most suitable for a wild Tokay gecko?

forests and wetlands, increasingly also towns and cities tropical forest, cliffs, caves, and buildings open Southern Ocean and remote breeding islands tropical reefs, lagoons, and productive coastal waters

Question 2 · multiple choice

Which description best matches the natural diet of a Tokay gecko?

fruit, seeds, carrion, and varied organic food mostly hoofed mammals, with smaller prey and carrion insects and small vertebrates thorny shrubs, dry grasses, salty plants, and browse

Question 3 · multiple choice

A tracking tag records the daily rhythm of a Tokay gecko. Which pattern is the best match?

may be active by day or night depending on temperature and people feeds repeatedly through daylight and may enter torpor at night active by day active mainly at night

Question 4 · multiple choice

A motion camera records a Tokay gecko. Which description should appear in the observation notes?

climbs walls and ceilings with adhesive toe pads walks on its knuckles to protect long front claws hovers and can fly backward by rotating its wings hops and climbs low vegetation

Question 5 · multiple choice

Which adaptation would a biologist correctly connect to a Tokay gecko?

shock-absorbing skull structures and a long barbed tongue support drilling and feeding millions of microscopic toe hairs create dry adhesion without glue smell helps adults recognise chemical cues from their home river large compound eyes and independently controlled wings track prey in flight

Question 6 · multiple choice

What would a researcher most reasonably record during the breeding cycle of a Tokay gecko?

gives birth to live young developing from eggs retained inside the mother a female provisions an underground brood ball for one developing larva lays paired hard-shelled eggs attached to a protected surface cubs are born with eyes open and erupted teeth

Question 7 · multiple choice

How is a Tokay gecko most likely to organise its everyday social life?

usually solitary outside breeding and cub-rearing periods mostly solitary, marking large overlapping territories males display alone while females rear young independently mostly solitary and strongly territorial

Question 8 · multiple choice

A habitat manager explains why the Tokay gecko matters. Which explanation is accurate?

controls large night-flying insects recycles fallen fruit and carrion on islands changes prey movement and leaves carcasses for scavengers browses plants beyond the reach of many smaller herbivores

Question 9 · multiple choice

Which field observation would show a Tokay gecko defending itself?

climbs, hides, growls, and uses sharp teeth when cornered drops its tail, bites, and gives loud warning calls relies on flight and distance from land predators uses size, speed, and deep-water escape rather than a venomous sting

Question 10 · true false

True or False: A tokay gecko young dragons spend much time in trees to avoid being eaten by larger adults.

True False