Brazilian Dwarf Gecko: Water avoids it. He can walk on water, sleep on water, hunt, but he will never fail (7 photos)

If a creature is the size of a marigold, then, in addition to all the obvious difficulties, it will face a global problem that is unknown to us giants. The law of surface tension of water. For example, if an ant carelessly drinks water from a drop of dew, the surface tension will absorb it. The insect simply does not have enough strength to get out of the watery shackles. But the dwarf Brazilian gecko studied physics at school, and such tricks would not surprise him.





So he made himself completely waterproof!

Let's start with some introductions: animals do not acquire unique qualities from a good life. The gecko's bad life began with its size: the scaly little gecko grows to only 24 mm! I have a phalanx of the thumb - and that one is longer.



On the one hand, this has its advantages. Most predators are simply not interested in you. And you can literally hide under any leaf from reasonable hunters. At the same time, there are not many competitors for the prey of the gecko itself, such as mites and springtails.





On the other hand, the baby reptile’s main enemy was its habitat itself. In the South-Eastern Amazon, where the dwarf gecko does its dwarf business, up to 3000 mm of precipitation falls a year. So you understand, in Moscow and St. Petersburg this figure is around 700-800 mm per year. And when a drop is the size of a closet for you, any rain turns into a real bombing, where drowning is a piece of cake. And then the gecko outwitted everyone: you won’t be able to drown if the water is afraid of you!



The Brazilian dwarf gecko's skin is hydrophobic - it repels water. Its scales are so small that a drop of water simply cannot catch on to them. In addition, on the baby’s paws, like all geckos, there are special pads. They consist of thousands of processes similar to microhairs.



Most geckos use them to climb steep surfaces. Our friend uses them for additional surface tension under his feet. But that's not all! Don't forget that the dwarf gecko is really dwarf. The reptile's body weight is miniscule.



As a result: our hero is able not only to run on water, but also to simply lie on it, like on a feather bed! Even if it’s raining: the animal will be thrown back by the shock wave from the falling drop, and then thrown back to the surface. Sleeping on the water is not only a fun way to relax, but also an excellent maneuver. No comparable predator will simply get to you - he will drown!



That's how a tiny gecko deceived the laws of physics and turned its weakness into strength. There is a lot to learn!