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Today’s Belize Photo of the Day is the Yucatan Banded Gecko which is scientifically known as the Coleonyx elegans. These small nocturnal lizards live primarily in rocky habitats and are strictly terrestrial with very elegant skin marks and red brown skin.

Being one of Yucatan’s most colorful reptiles, they are rare to spot and have sharp pointy toes, movable eyelids, and a narrow eye pupil with a vertical slit.

Many contemporary Maya consider this gecko to be deadly because of its sharply decorative vivid colors and skin but such is not the case as these lizards are shy and prefer not to be noticed. In Belize, the Chiquibul Forest Reserve, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Shipstern Nature Reserve and our very  own Chaa Creek Nature reserve protect this shy and beautiful specimen.

According to Chaa Creek’s Naturalist Guides, these lizards can be found beneath leaves, boards, fallen palm fronds and the bark of dead trees and they frequently emit high-pitched squeaking sounds when touched.

Photo taken by Naturalist Guide: Hilberto Tut

Tags: Belize Images, Belize Photo, Belize photo of the day, chaa creek, chaa creek nature reserve, Chiquibul Forest Reserve, cockscomb basin wildlife sanctuary, Coleonyx elegans, Contemporary Maya, gecko, gecko reptile, kinds of geckos, Maya of Belize, Mesoamerica, Natural History, natural history museum, nocturnal lizards, nocturnal reptiles, rare reptiles, Shipstern Nature Reserve, yucatan banded gecko