This post is dedicated to one of the most common but also most adorable types of lizard in the world – the gecko! There are more than 1,800 species of gecko worldwide and they are found on every continent except Antarctica – can’t say I blame them, Antarctica is cold and the penguins would probably eat them.

I have collated my top four gecko facts for this post.

Gecko fact number 1: Geckos make lots of noise!

Geckos are the chattiest of all lizards, and many species are known for their ability to chirp and click. The noises are typically made to scare rival geckos out of chirpy gecko’s territory, or to attract a mate for chirpy gecko.

Gecko fact number 2: Geckos lick their eyeballs!

Why bother evolving eyelids when you can just evolve a really long tongue that you use to moisten your eyeballs any time they get dry? Sure it’s a little less practical, but what it lacks in practicality, it makes up for in cool-eye-licking-ability.

In fact, there’s even a Namibian gecko which takes licking itself a step further. Every morning it climbs to the top of a sand dune and waits for condensation to form on its face. It then licks the droplets off – an ingenious method of remaining hydrated in the harsh Namib Desert.

The gecko at the top of this post was found in the rainforests of North Queensland though, where there’s no shortage of water. He was out hunting, and geckos have eyes that are 350 times more sensitive to light than humans – so he’s just making sure those eyeballs are crystal clear by giving them a meticulous lick.

Gecko fact number 3: Geckos eat their own skin!

Like all reptiles, geckos regularly shed their skin, however many geckos go a step further and actually eat their old skin. If you zoom in to the photo above, you can see a small piece of skin in the mouth of this northern leaf-tailed gecko who was in the process of shedding.

While this might seem gross to humans (particularly if you’ve ever seen your Grandma removing that delicious dead skin from her feet), the skin actually contains valuable nutrients that would be a shame for a gecko to let go to waste.

In the gecko-eat-gecko world of the jungle, every last bit of energy could be the difference between life and death!

Gecko fact number 4: Geckos are the Batman!

For our final gecko fact, I thought I’d let you in on a secret that big-NatGeo doesn’t want you to know about.

Believe it or not, some geckos are in fact the Batman. I have done my own research, and this photo of an Asian house gecko, one of the world’s most abundant geckos, is undeniable proof.

Why is no-one talking about this?

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Top photo: Mourning Gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris), Barron Falls, Australia