At 64 and 60 years old, Antoinette and Brucie-Baby are thin and bony. Their skin hangs looser than it did in their youth, but their eyes still gleam with energy. <\/p>\n
But these aren\u2019t just any sexagenarians we\u2019re talking about; these are geckos, believed to be the world\u2019s oldest on record, discovered on a small island in New Zealand. <\/p>\n
Marieke Lettink, an expert on reptiles and amphibians, was part of the team that found the pair of Waitaha geckos on Motunau Island, off the coast the country\u2019s South Island. It was an \u201cexciting\u201d moment, she said, adding that it was humbling to realize \u201cthat these animals are older than us and still out there doing their thing.\u201d <\/p>\n
They were found during a five-yearly survey on the island. \u201cThat also means it\u2019s worth going back in five years\u2019 time because we don\u2019t actually know how long they can live for. Every time we go, every trip we\u2019ve done \u2026 the oldest gecko we catch is always older than us,\u201d Lettink said. <\/p>\n
During each survey, the team sets up a grid of traps on the small island, typically catching a few hundred geckos over a few days. The geckos come out at night \u2013 so the team also goes trekking in the dark with flashlights to look for geckos perched on leaves and bushes. <\/p>\n
The surveys have been going on since the 1960s, when the late conservationist Tony Whitaker began marking geckos on the island with a practice called toe clipping \u2013 which involves clipping a certain number of toes on the geckos, each with a unique pattern. The practice is no longer used by New Zealand\u2019s Department of Conservation. <\/p>\n
It was Whitaker\u2019s markings on Antoinette and Brucie-Baby \u2013 named after Whitaker and fellow conservationist Bruce Thomas \u2013 that helped Lettink identify the lizards. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me think of Tony, who started the work. It was quite a poignant moment,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Both geckos were fully grown when they were marked \u2013 so they could be even older than the 60 and 64 years recorded. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s far older than the average lifespan of geckos worldwide, at only about a decade. And this discovery places Waitaha geckos in the top ranks of other long-living lizards \u2013 most of which are far larger and better known. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now actually bypassed all the older lizards, with things like the iguanas and the big Komodo dragons \u2013 you know, really big lizards that are quite famous,\u201d Lettink said. \u201cAnd this is a humble, drab brown gecko that\u2019s not famous at all.\u201d <\/p>\n
There are a few reasons it may have lived so long \u2013 the main one being that Motunau Island is predator-free, without any of the introduced species that have decimated native animals across mainland New Zealand. <\/p>\n
The success of reptile survival in predator-free spaces is one reason conservationists across the country are trying to establish more safe sanctuaries \u2013 for instance, building a fenced area to keep predators out and eliminating invasive predators within. <\/p>\n
But skewing the ecosystem that way can allow mice populations to thrive. They can prey on geckos, posing another problem, Lettink said \u2013 so some groups have set up specific sanctuaries just for lizards and geckos. <\/p>\n
There are other factors behind their longevity too \u2013 like the cool climate and the island lifestyle, said the Department of Conservation\u2019s Biodiversity Ranger Kaitlyn Leeds, who was on the survey team with Lettink, in a news release. <\/p>\n
The team had actually seen Antoinette once before, about a decade ago, and they assumed that would be the last time. \u201cAnd here, 10 years later, they look no different \u2013 they\u2019re still going,\u201d Lettink said. <\/p>\n
It makes her hopeful that by the next survey, in five years, they might be able to find a few more of the original geckos tagged in the 1960s. Or better yet \u2013 there might be many older geckos out there that just haven\u2019t been found yet. \u201cThat would be really exciting,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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