Tokay gecko

Amazing fact

A tokay gecko can shed its tail for defense and grow a new one.

University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web

Tokay gecko in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

A tokay gecko can shed its tail for defense and grow a new one.

SourceUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Gekko gecko

THE REAL WORLD

The real Tokay gecko

Scientific name: Gekko gecko
Japanese name: トッケイヤモリ
Group: Amphibians and reptiles

Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Gekkonidae
Genus: Gekko

Facts about the real animal.

A large gecko that lives across much of Southeast Asia and in southern China.

鳥羽水族館 — トッケイヤモリ

Its body is pale blue to gray, with small red to orange spots.

鳥羽水族館 — トッケイヤモリ

It calls loudly to claim its territory, and this call gave it both its Japanese and its scientific name.

鳥羽水族館 — トッケイヤモリ

How the Tokay gecko lives

It hunts at night, often waiting for prey to come by. It eats moths, grasshoppers, spiders and other animals. While resting on a tree, it spreads its skin folds to blend into the bark.

Smithsonian National Zoo University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web

Basic data

Range: Much of Southeast Asia and southern China

鳥羽水族館

Where the Tokay gecko has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesAsia Forests

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: トッケイヤモリ
简体中文: 大壁虎
繁體中文: 大壁虎
한국어: 토케이도마뱀붙이
Español: Gecko tokay
Français: Gecko tokay
Deutsch: Tokeh
Português (Brasil): Lagartixa-tokay
Italiano: Geco Tokay
Bahasa Indonesia: Tokek rumah
Tiếng Việt: Tắc kè
Русский: Геккон токи
ไทย: ตุ๊กแกบ้าน
বাংলা: তক্ষক

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — トッケイヤモリChecked: 2026-11-04
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Gekko geckoChecked: 2026-11-05
Smithsonian National Zoo — Tokay geckoChecked: 2026-11-05

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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