Did The Biggest Mystery In Herpetology History Just Get Solved?

Did The Biggest Mystery In Herpetology History Just Get Solved? | Delcourt’s Giant Gecko

Рет қаралды 26,219

Күн бұрын

When it comes to lizards, size isn’t everything. But big lizards are fun. You can pick them up and hold them like you would a dog. They are charismatic and you can almost see the light of itty-bitty thoughts behind their eyes. The enormous pair of eyes you may not be able to detect intelligence behind though, are those of the geckos. The largest gecko alive today, this ornery wrinkly beast, has a pair of some of the most cosmic eyes that reflect no thoughts. Head empty. However, this gecko isn’t the largest to ever live. Let’s take a look at the true record holder and its long bizarre and enigmatic history.
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Art in Thumbnail belongs to - Mark Neilson
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RESEARCH
Bauer, Aaron M.; Russell, Anthony P. (1986). "Hoplodactylus delcourti n. sp. (Reptilia: Gekkonidae), the largest known gecko" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 13: 141-148. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-04-20.
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Hashtags - #animals #nature #extinction
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Пікірлер: 95

@Johntheshishcabab 9 ай бұрын

Even when giant,it still looks like it doesn't have a thought in their head

@Yoshoggutha 9 ай бұрын

Geckos are so underrated that it's a crime. They're a lot of fun and fascinating to watch.

@gekkeroph9276 Ай бұрын

Yup. That's exactly why I dedicated my username to them.

@gattycroc8073 9 ай бұрын

the fact that many fossils in museum collections are still under studied makes me want more time dedicated to researching the things that we got before we find more. personally, I would like to see if we collected anything interesting from South America as it had some of the most fascinating fauna throughout its millions of years of isolation.

@Riceball01 9 ай бұрын

I've always said that a paleontologist could make a career out of doing nothing but browsing museum back room collections and never once have to step into the field. You would be able to do "digs" all year round, not have to worry about fossil poachers, or your specimen getting worn away by the elements before you can collect everything. You also wouldn't need to raise as much in funding and you'd be living much better than you would in the field while still doing valuable research.

@BinroWasRight 9 ай бұрын

@Riceball01, indeed! There have been paleontologists who've done just that, like sauropod expert Dr. Brian Curtice early in his career. I would love to see a comprehensive review of museum collections in not only fossils but more recent specimens, old stuff in drawers and storage and such. Because when we critically look at such data, we find important new discoveries like this.

@briantomcollins 9 ай бұрын

I don't think it would be so much if we find anything interesting in South America, but how many amazing discoveries are waiting for the right person to dig thru those boxes. Like you said, SA has amazing flora and fauna and is criminally understudied. There are so many things found that may have amazing implications, but just don't have enough public interest. Kinda sad...

@antonioderas3 Ай бұрын

Museums aren’t set up for studying, rather hoarding and stealing and money laundering if you really look into their history.

@juggernaut6544 9 ай бұрын

If you ask my wife she’ll tell you the largest gecko to ever live was in our garage the other day

@WobblesandBean 9 ай бұрын

"Head empty"? Dude, don't do geckos dirty like that.

@billsmith1998 9 ай бұрын

THIS is the video I've been waiting for. I've bred new caledonian geckos for 10 years. Leachies are amazing, I cant imagine seeing one of these alive. Thank you for taking this deep dive for us.

@cameronjones8641 9 ай бұрын

I have a leachie too. This is a fascinating topic for gecko lovers.

@MastemaJack 9 ай бұрын

I'm planning on getting a lechie. I just have a crestie and a few leos

@sharkladyindisguise 9 ай бұрын

I breed Fat tails, but my friend has a Leachie. He hates everyone it’s amazing. Her growling/barking is so crazy to hear.

@titanofserpents4315 9 ай бұрын

I hope that these guys are still alive out there somewhere.

@omenhasaheadache 9 ай бұрын

Love that a lot of the art has the red stripes from the maori description too, n definitely looks like red striped gargoyle geckos were referenced for a lot of them and i also love that

@riverAmazonNZ 9 ай бұрын

I’m so glad someone did this study. Great to get the dna resolved! It was a longstanding mystery.

@dan240393 9 ай бұрын

Never doubt the depth or complexity of whats going on behind their eyes. We live in a world where slime molds can learn, transfer knowledge and out optimise human engineers; and they're just blobs of single cells working together. Every time we look, it seems more and more like you need 99% of the complexity to even get moving. The gap between humans and everything else gets closer by the day.

@WobblesandBean 9 ай бұрын

I'm a zoologist, and one thing that saddens me is how common intelligence is within the animal kingdom, and equally common are humans who refuse to acknowledge it.

@brianedwards7142 9 ай бұрын

I was moving bricks in the garden today and disturbed a marbled gecko Christinus marmoratus which was a pretty healthy size.

@sbird8675 9 ай бұрын

As a proud mother of two different types of geckos (a crestie and an AFT) I protest the "no thoughts, head empty" line LOL. OK my babies aren't the smartest, but they've got a spark in there!

@Cool_Story_Bruh 9 ай бұрын

I have a pet leachianus, and yes, they are definitely "an ornery, wrinkly beast" 💚🦎💚

@DragonFae16 9 ай бұрын

Imagine if the museum specimen is the actual individual that Moari chief killed. How crazy would that be?

@raphlvlogs271 9 ай бұрын

their arboreal habit and large size probably made them very vulnerable to predation by birds of prey as well

@EDGEscience 9 ай бұрын

True, but weren't there birds of prey in that region for a long time?

@stefanostokatlidis4861 9 ай бұрын

There aren’t many birds of prey in New Caledonia.

@WobblesandBean 9 ай бұрын

I'm a zoologist. I really don't think that's what caused their extinction, it was the Maori. Many animals went extinct once people first arrived in that area, and many others.

@jaredharris1940 9 ай бұрын

Cloacal bone? Thats a new one...

@nerdaitami7205 9 ай бұрын

I wonder how the rediscovery of that museum specimen went. Like: Oh frère! j'ai trouver un Gecko grand comme as dans la réserve!

@Tser 9 ай бұрын

Geckos share one brain cell amongst the entire infraorder.

@Adolfitotherevenant2003 9 ай бұрын

Rip Geckozilla

@Gaua1 9 ай бұрын

As a reptile keeper for years, and a lover for all species of geckos (I kept and bred about 20 different species) I highly appreciate your video. And yes, geckos are all fun! The funniest of all lizards.

@raphlvlogs271 9 ай бұрын

the restoration of the Kauri forest still has a long way to go

@Jogyot3260 Ай бұрын

The story of Delcourt's Giant Gecko is the most melancholic I ever known, can you imagine being very mysterious people only know your existences through your mummified corpse and even then, people know very little about you?

@user-pr8gx3vb9h 9 ай бұрын

This gecko was an interesting specimen.

@felixtheswiss 9 ай бұрын

Funny how you included Dâv Kaufmann --> Rattle on.. My roommates aprove (3 species of small Geckos)

@charlyluevano308 9 ай бұрын

Delcourt's giant gecko has actually been placed in it's own genus and species: gigarcanum delcourti

@WobblesandBean 9 ай бұрын

Keep watching.

@1998topornik 9 ай бұрын

RIP big gecko

@BinroWasRight 9 ай бұрын

This is so fascinating! What other discoveries lie in dusty old drawers in some museum? There were many decades where the rush to collect was so strong that the follow-up on the back end was often poor. Most major institutions likely have huge potential discoveries just sitting around in storage somewhere. As has already been said, someone could make a career out of going through them all looking for new to us species. Also, every time I see a leachie, I lose my damn mind, they are so cute 💚.

@TroyTheCatFish 9 ай бұрын

This is a certified Gecko classic

@reeyees50 9 ай бұрын

Scientists: Yesss lets keep using polynesian names for people to embarass themselves

@liamredmill9134 9 ай бұрын

That's the greatest story/mystery I've ever heard,very well told,thanks

@VariousLizards 9 ай бұрын

This is pretty interesting. I love seeing new caledonian geckos getting attention in this kind of light, learning about their evolution and history is neat. It would be really cool if these geckos were still around. I own a little juvenile leachie and I'm excited for it to grow into such a large animal. I say little but it is already as big as my adult crested geckos, with a lot more growing to go! It would be even cooler to have an even bigger gecko like the one in this video. And it's a bonus that this one is a new cal as well, their care is usually very convenient. I wont say easy, because no reptile is easy to care for, it takes a lot of time and research before someone is ready to properly care for an exotic pet. But among reptiles they are some of the easiest to care for, and they are one of my favorite groups of animals!

@Mudnag 9 ай бұрын

Great video! Geckos are our favorite reptiles.

@RowieSundog 9 ай бұрын

Is there an oral tradition in New Caledonia detailing a gecko of that size tho? Here in Aotearoa (NZ) the other facts all line up, could it not just be something that has closer relatives in New Caledonia but lived in Aotearoa?

@rutufn0596 9 ай бұрын

Unfortunatly,French colonists methodically destroy the kanak's culture.

@quitlife9279 9 ай бұрын

Oral traditions are totally unreliable 99% of the time, especially from a culture that doesn't understand the concept of science and has no separation between myths of the supernatural and reality.

@stefanostokatlidis4861 9 ай бұрын

The Aotearoans were extremely superstitious about reptiles and in this respect they weren’t much different than the people of Abrahamic stock that colonized later. They feared, disliked and killed them. The irony is that all New Zealand reptiles are completely harmless and many are beautifully colored. Also there aren’t many other terrestrial vertebrates other than reptiles there. It is conceivable that they were consciously exaggerating about huge lizards, in order to keep this fear alive in the next generations, like for example some myths about huge snakes or poisonous lizards in my backward Balkan/Mediterranean country. This gecko was slow-growing, slow-breeding and probably slow-moving as well, therefore extremely vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance and killing. At least it turned out to be from New Caledonia, and we can be relieved that it didn’t die out because of superstition.

@kevinpoe8137 9 ай бұрын

If you thought getting bit by a tokay was bad, imagine this thing clamping down on you, you’re definitely losing a finger

@dagoodboy6424 9 ай бұрын

Thats y muesiums snatching up random stuff is handy. Gatta keep some history recorded

@troycoley-cn5bb 9 ай бұрын

Amazing Video :)

@nazzkid23 9 ай бұрын

Fantastic video! I love geckos 😁

@rutufn0596 9 ай бұрын

Back in the days it was like : " hoo look at that exceptional and unknown creature ! Yes amazing ! Kill it , it could be useful oneday...."

@torIIgo 9 ай бұрын

Love this, and so flad that you made it! At some point in my life, I wanna get a pair of leachies!!😎😎

@healthyseal 9 ай бұрын

Really interesting and complete video, I like to know my city contributed to shed lights on a very interesting species of gecko :)

@lexusgalavan1410 9 ай бұрын

Megafaunal Geckos! Lemur lizards!

@julianusapostata6677 9 ай бұрын

He had me the moment he said gecko

@LukeMcGuireoides 9 ай бұрын

Cloacal bone?! Lol, anyway, great video!

@takenname8053 9 ай бұрын

Good save from the French scientist sending the photos to America

@stevenkunkle3857 9 ай бұрын

Thats no Gecko, thats a Jabras! Maybe even a Great Jabras!

@retard_activated 9 ай бұрын

Eee! I was hoping you'd mention Sphaerodactylus! (They really deserve their own episode, lol) I kept several species but mostly S.Macrolepis when I lived in Puerto Rico. They are too adorable for this world, honestly! 😁😍💖🥺

@smock3299 9 ай бұрын

finally, lizard

@NautilusEnjoyer5000 9 ай бұрын

DAYUMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@alaricbragg7843 Ай бұрын

I hope that the war in New Caledonia does not destroy their habitat.

@MugshotMidge 9 ай бұрын

We need to bring them back

@geckoraptor9397 9 ай бұрын

Yaaay

@stevenbragg85 9 ай бұрын

Yo! Can someone explain 0:53 ?? I’ve never seen a gecko do this 😮

@EDGEscience 9 ай бұрын

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strophurus

@WHATTHEHELL666 9 ай бұрын

It's an Australian odd ball.

@WobblesandBean 9 ай бұрын

It's an entire genus. The stuff they squirt from their tails smells terrible and, amazingly, becomes flammable when it comes into contact with ammonia. We think it evolved to specifically deter avian predation.

@mymom1462 9 ай бұрын

LETS FUCKI G GOOOO

@nationalsniper5413 9 ай бұрын

No thoughts? Actually lizards are smarter than you think. You can actually bond with them. My rankins dragons are extremely tame and they are smarter than you think. Monitor lizards and tegu's are known to be intelligent lizards.

@stefanostokatlidis4861 9 ай бұрын

He specifically say’s about geckos, and geckos aren’t particularly intelligent.

@RexFrizzy 9 ай бұрын

Can someone tell me what the lizard @0:50 is? 1st time seeing it

@TheGreatWolfYT 9 ай бұрын

Golden tailed gecko / golden spiny tailed gecko Strophurus teanicauda

@morriganmhor5078 9 ай бұрын

Do I understand correctly that no serious field research in New Zealand or New Caledonia was done?

@EDGEscience 9 ай бұрын

I find it hard to believe no one has ever looked for the gecko in the last 200 years, but I don't know of any.

@PondScummer 9 ай бұрын

There's definitely been much field research done here in NZ in regards to our native geckos, but could always do with some more

@felixtheswiss 9 ай бұрын

Well in New Caledonia the now in the Reptile Hobby ubiquitos C.ciliatus thought to be extinct in New Caledonia few years ago. For reference look at Dâv Kaufmans trip to New Caledonia in 2018

@pereztube2 9 ай бұрын

I like geckos

@repeatdefender6032 9 ай бұрын

well, we know it's a male 🍒😅

@Kargoneth 9 ай бұрын

A web-shooting gecko?

@SPIOoner 9 ай бұрын

whats herpetology?

@Andrey.Ivanov 9 ай бұрын

The field of study related to reptiles and amphibians. It's a branch of zoology just like ornithology (the study of birds), mammalogy (the study of mammals), ichthyology (the study of fish), entomology (the study of insects), etc.

@EDGEscience 9 ай бұрын

Mammalogy is the study of mammals. Theriology would be the study of beasts. 😉

@Andrey.Ivanov 9 ай бұрын

@@EDGEscience My bad, I checked and apparently the two are synonymous but mammalogy is the more widely used one in western science. In Bulgaria we use theriology and that's where my confusion comes from.

@Yoshoggutha 9 ай бұрын

The study of reptiles and amphibians.

@SPIOoner 9 ай бұрын

i honestily prefer paleologyESPECIALLY the mesoic era.@@Yoshoggutha

@pickles_8472 9 ай бұрын

why did I hear Minecraft music at the beginning?!?!?!

@risunokairu 9 ай бұрын

They describe several lizards, we have proof of a few of them, but these two must be mythical because don't have a specimen. Definitely not European racism. So weird they'd be running get about everything but those two. Even if they're old cultural memories of extinct animals.

@stefanostokatlidis4861 9 ай бұрын

There were a lot of mythical animals inside Europe as well.