Southern Leaf-tailed Gecko, Phyllurus platurus
Last Updated: 14 October 2012
wildlife of sydney,
The white on the end indicates some kind of reptile, most likely. A great book for identifying these kinds of things is: Barbara Triggs, Tracks, Scats and Other Traces: A Field Guide to Australian Mammals.
Hi Dash. Birds and reptiles can both have white in their droppings. The white part of a dropping comes from the nitrogen content (urea) in the faeces. Lizards often eat insects, so the black part of the dropping would contain insect parts. I assume you've seen geckoes around or in the house then? Other lizards may also produce similar droppings, so it might be hard to assume gecko based on a single dropping alone.
There are a couple of good books on identifying Australian animals via their droppings - one being Barbara Triggs' Tracks, Scats and other Traces. We have this book here in the Museum in our Search & Discover information centre!
Thankyou for your very informative and entertaining comment! It is amazing how these cryptic animals can so quickly blend back into their surroundings, isn't it? We often get just the tail of this particular species brought in the Museum to be identified - without the rest of the gecko, the leaf-shaped tail is a very puzzling object if you haven't encountered it before! I haven't heard of nips from geckos, but it's always a good idea to use gloves around wild animals (or a suitable container).
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