While it is unclear exactly when the mourning gecko was introduced to Hawaii, according to the Kauai-based Coffee Times website, the geckos have lived on the islands for hundreds of years and occupy a place of respect in Hawaiian culture and mythology.
Hawaiian mythology includes many tales about mo‘o, or large lizards similar to dragons, according to the Coffee Times article “Guardian Geckos.” Geckos in Hawaii are believed to represent the mo‘o. The mourning gecko lives on all major Hawaiian Islands along with the stump-toed gecko, the Indo-Pacific gecko and the Indo-Pacific tree gecko.
None of the geckos in Hawaii are native animals. In recent years, five other species of gecko have been introduced to the islands, which are listed on the Snake Tracks website: the gold dust day gecko, the orange-spotted day gecko, the giant day gecko, the tokay gecko and the common house gecko. The introduction of these five took place within the past 100 years and has negatively impacted the populations of the geckos that came before.
According to the Coffee Times article, the house gecko has been largely responsible for driving mourning geckos into the wilderness, although they once lived very closely with humans. House geckos, as the name implies, like to live in human dwellings because of the easy access to warmth, shelter and food in the form of bugs. House geckos also eat young members of other species of gecko.
Differently from other geckos, the entire Hawaiian population of mourning geckos is female, according to the Sciencing website. Mourning geckos reproduce asexually by parthenogenesis. This means they can lay eggs whenever and without the need of male fertilization. Additionally, the eggs contain identical daughters. Mourning geckos grow to be less than 4 inches long, GeckoWeb adds.
Despite being all female and not needing a mate to reproduce, mourning geckos have been observed engaging in mating behaviors, says the Sciencing website. It’s hypothesized that these behaviors may be a way for the geckos to show dominance over one another and stake out their territories.
The eggs of the mourning gecko are tolerant of saltwater, says GeckoWeb. Due to this, it is unclear if the first mourning geckos came to Hawaii on the boats of Polynesian voyagers or if their eggs floated to the islands by accident.
Mourning geckos can also be found in many other places in the world, including large parts of Asia and Central America, says GeckoWeb.