How to translate text using browser tools
1 November 2012 Characteristics of Sleeping Sites and Timing of Departure from Them in a Madagascan Diurnal Gecko, Lygodactylus tolampyae
Isami Ikeuchi, Masami Hasegawa, Akira Mori
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Because animals are vulnerable to predators while sleeping, avoiding predation may be one of the most important factors influencing the selection of sleeping sites by animals. However, a given sleeping site is not always safe from predators consistently because species and foraging tactics often differ between diurnal and nocturnal predators. Thus, animals may have to leave their sleeping sites in response to the changes in predator composition from night to day. We investigated the pattern of space use by a diurnal gecko, Lygodactylus tolampyae, during day and night in a dry forest of Ampijoroa, northwestern Madagascar, where a variety of predators are present. We also video-recorded the behavior of geckos that departed sleeping sites in the early morning. Most geckos perched on tree trunks in the daytime, and slept on the tips of thin branches and leaves at night. Geckos began leaving sleeping sites before dawn when it was still too dark for diurnal predatory birds to forage. When leaving, geckos moved very slowly and intermittently toward tree trunks. We surmise that predator avoidance is the most likely explanation for the sleeping site selection by L. tolampyae and that the behavior employed by the gecko in leaving its sleeping sites minimizes the risk of both nocturnal and diurnal predation.

© 2012 by The Herpetological Society of Japan
Isami Ikeuchi, Masami Hasegawa, and Akira Mori "Characteristics of Sleeping Sites and Timing of Departure from Them in a Madagascan Diurnal Gecko, Lygodactylus tolampyae," Current Herpetology 31(2), 107-116, (1 November 2012). https://doi.org/10.5358/hsj.31.107
Accepted: 1 October 2012; Published: 1 November 2012
KEYWORDS
Gekkonidae
Lygodactylus tolampyae
Madagascar
predator avoidance
sleeping site
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top