Vertical, elliptical pupils let a leopard gecko's eyes open extremely wide in darkness
This pupil shape closes down to a series of pinholes in bright light and opens almost fully round at night, giving far greater light-gathering ability than the round pupils of diurnal lizards.
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Most active at dawn and dusk when temperatures in their native Pakistan and Afghanistan are ideal.
A widespread misconception is that the tail acts like a camel's hump storing water.
Autotomy — voluntary tail shedding — is a defence mechanism.
Unlike most gecko species which use van der Waals forces to climb smooth surfaces, leopard geckos have conventional claws.
The moveable eyelid is unusual among geckos.
Hold your gecko up to a light source and look through one ear opening — you can see light through the other side.