A Day in the Life of Savannah

          One of the most well known organisms inside Mrs. Eckert's classroom is Savannah, our leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius). Savannah is our class's pride and joy. She helps de-stress students when we are nervous about an upcoming test, she entertains students by excreting wastes on students, and is just a fun pet for us scientists to explore. Savannah loves to eat super worms! Mrs. Eckert first got Savannah for her freshman students in 2 years ago. At first she wasn't surviving that well, but due to all the student's love and wonderful crickets, she is now surviving great!
          The leopard gecko is originally from the deserts of Asia, throughout Pakistan, and Northern India. During the winter in these areas, the leopard geckos go underground into a semi-hibernation (otherwise known as brumation), where the geckos live on fat reserves (which is stored in their weird tail). In the wild, leopard geckos are crespuscular species which means that they are forced to live in the burrows during the day, but become active at dusk/dawn when the temperature is more favorable. Recently, the leopard gecko has become domesticated. Leopard geckos are thought to be the first domesticated lizard species. 
          Leopard geckos are also bred in captivity, like most other domesticated animals. This means that many people choose a favorable phenotype, so the breeders artificially select that phenotype. Some of these phenotypes include: three different strains of albino, patternless, blizzard, jungle, hypomelanistic, tangerine, giant, and snow. Savannah, however, is none of these strains. 

          The leopard gecko also exhibits sexual dimorphism, which is a phenotype difference between males and females. This is how someone determines the sex of a gecko, which can only be done when they are adults. Female geckos, like Savannah, have smaller pores on their underside and do not have any budges; males have pre-anal pores and hemipenal bulges. Males can identify other geckos by smelling pheromones on their skin. Males respond to other males aggressively, however they respond to females in a friendlier manner (I mean who wouldn't, look at how beautiful Savannah is!) Males and females also have temperature-dependent sex determination. This means that a female gecko is more likely to have a girl if it is in a certain temperature than a boy. Savannah was probably born in either very cold or very warm temperatures (79–84 °F or 93–95 °F). This determination was probably set during two weeks of incubation. 
          Savannah typically has a very exciting day during the school year. She wakes up bright and early with period one AP Bio. They usually are a little cranky due to zero period lab, or the 8 o'clock class start, so Savannah has a quiet morning. She then goes through the day hanging out with Mrs. Eckert and other classes like Anatomy and Physiology. Her day really starts with the start of period 7, where Mrs. Eckert's other AP Bio class comes in. Savannah comes out and hangs out with all the tables, crawling inside binders and on top of classmates heads. Savannah's favorite topic was learning about all of the scientists, her favorite being Rosalind Franklin. Savannah is so popular she even has friends in other classes. One of her best friends, or mother has she likes to believe, is actually a sophomore who has never even been in Mrs. Eckert's classes! She loves taking Savannah home over breaks and probably checks in on her as much as the other students. Savannah is one popular gecko!