Image David Vinot
Last Observed: November 2015
Observed By: Tijl Adriaen, David Vinot
Also known as the Christmas Island Grass Skink, Bowring’s Supple Skink is a reptile found in East and Southeast Asia, Australian and the Philippines.
Bowring’s Supple Skink Wikipedia
Image Copyright Tijl Adriaen
Image Copyright 2015 Teerasak Thomas Suamcheepmasau
Last Observed: November 2015, Koh Chang
Observed By: Teerasak Thomas Suamcheepmasau, Paul Mann, Jean-Pierre Odet
The White-Lipped Pit Viper is a brilliant emerald green species of poisonous snake that is native to Southeast Asia. The aren’t too big, growing to a maximum length of 81cm, but that’s big enough when you’ve got poison. They aren’t a threatened species nor are they a particularly threatening one and they’ll be happy to leave you alone if you return the favour.
White-Lipped Pit Viper Wikipedia
Image Copyright Paul Mann
Image Copyright Jean-Pierre Odet
Image Copyright Jean-Pierre Odet
Image Copyright Teerasak Thomas Suamcheepmasau
Last Observed: October 2015, Lonely Beach, Koh Chang
Observed By: David Newman
Image Copyright 2015 David Newman
The Tokay Gecko is a large and aggresive lizard common across Southern and Southeast Asia. It is an fierce predator and noted for it’s loud and repetitive cries which, whilst in English are recorded Ge-Ko Ge-Ko, also are the root of the Thai name Too-Kare Too-Kare (both are onomatopoeic names – named after the sound they make).
They are very attractive creatures with their characteristic orange spotted skin. But they are almost universally reviled and demonized by the Thais, many of whom have an almost phobic reaction to them. This seems strange to non-Thais, especially in a country with no shortage of poisonous and dangerous snakes, spiders, insects, scorpions, centipedes and marine animals. Not to mention tigers. But it seems to be the Gecko that is the Thai’s most feared beast. They certainly aren’t afraid of people and I guess they would give you a bit of a bite if you really went looking for it but they have all kinds of good qualities as well. For a start they eat cockroaches, mosquitoes and all kinds of other insects, protecting people from bites, stings and disease. And they sound, and look, pretty cool.
They are the second largest species of Gecko and males can reach 51cm, that’s a pretty big lizard. The males are very territorial and a fight between two of them is a thing to see.
Image Copyright 2015 David Newman
Image Copyright 2015 David Newman
Image Copyright 2015 David Newman
