LIMA — For more than two decades, José Pérez Zúñiga, a researcher at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, has set out at night to search by the light of a flashlight through the pre-Inca ruins of the city for hidden treasure — not ancient artifacts of gold, but a tiny gecko with gold-flecked eyes. “When I first started my research, my interests were scientific, and my goal was just to study this species, but today, my focus is on its conservation,” he says of his work with the critically endangered Lima leaf-toed gecko (Phyllodactylus sentosus). Endemic to the valley of Lima and occurring almost entirely in a handful of archaeological sites scattered across the Peruvian capital, the lizard is threatened by urbanization, invasive species and inbreeding. However, local archaeologists and conservationists have been working together to bring the rare reptile back from the brink of extinction. Displaced from the desert The Lima leaf-toed gecko has a beige body striped and blotched in yellow and brown, and measures just 10 centimeters (4 inches) from head to tail. Each of its long toes tapers into a leaf-shaped adhesive pad. Unlike other geckos, though, it struggles to climb vertical surfaces; for much of its history, it had no need to. Image courtesy of Gecko de Lima project. The gecko’s natural habitat was once a barren area of the Peruvian coastal desert, flanked by the Rímac and Chillón rivers. Here, it thrived for eons, hiding beneath boulders during the day and darting across the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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