SWNS_TINY_GECKO_02

A tiny critically endangered gecko has been hatched at Bristol Zoo measuring just 20 mm long – about the width of a 20p piece. See SWNS story SWGECKO; But it is a perfect miniature of its mum and dad. It is a turquoise blue gecko and it hatched at the Zoo after two months incubation at 25C. Turquoise blue geckos are from Tanzania and are critically endangered. This one is only the second ever to be hatched at the 180-year-old Zoo and is eating well living on a diet of fruit flies and first instar crickets. Its parents were amongst 165 turquoise dwarf geckos seized by Broder Force officers at Heathrow’s Terminal 4 last year in a consignment which also included chameleons, scorpions and frogs. Turquoise dwarf geckos are only found in two locations in Tanzania and are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.