Animal of the week Sept 2, 2014 -- Geeeecccckkkkkoooooosssss iiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnn ssssssspppppppppaaaaaaaacccccccceeeeee

Luke J. Harmon - Harmon LJ—wikicommons

When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, and he pondered his place in the universe, one question dominated his thoughts: I wonder if geckos could breed in zero gravity. This week's animal has been all over the news this past couple of days, because finally it looked like we might have the answer to Neil's question. It's Phelsuma ornata (Mauritius ornate day gecko).

These small brightly coloured geckos originate on the tropical Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, they scurry around the treetops by daytime hunting insects and avoiding predators in the tropical sunshine.

Five geckos were blasted into space on my birthday, July 15, aboard the Russian Foton-M Satellite as part of an experiment to investigate the great mystery of whether geckos are able to reproduce under zero-gravity conditions.

The satellite returned to earth in the small hours of Tuesday morning. Unfathomable excitement turned to crushing disappointment when the satellite was recovered and the geckos hadn't reproduced at all. In fact, all five had died. Died some time ago, as they had started to desiccate and mummify. It's possible that the lizard died of cold...average daily celcius temperatures in Mauritius are in the mid 20s...in space, it's colder.

What a loss to science.