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back to article Russian space geckos caught on film playing with jeweled collar

Not all “space gecko” experiments end in fiery doom: a group of thick-toed geckos sent into orbit have been filmed seem to have enjoyed playing with a collar floating around their capsule. That's interesting to the behavioural boffins in charge of the project, because “play” is a pretty advanced behaviour to be exhibited by a …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    anyone else watching that...

    ...thought "What about the poo?"?

    2 0 Reply
    1. frank ly
      Reply Icon

      Re: anyone else watching that...

      Did you see the brown splodge that appeared at the upper right of the picture at 1:45? It disappeared at 2:45 so I thought "Who cleaned it up?!"

      0 0 Reply
  2. x 7

    they were bored and wanted stimulus

    2 0 Reply
  3. Alister
    Joke

    Just goes to show, females of any species can be distracted by shiny...

    6 0 Reply
  4. Grikath

    well they certainly weren't hungry.. those worms wouldn't have stood a chance ... ;)

    0 0 Reply
  5. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Gecko feet

    Gecko feet and hands would be perfect for astronauts... much like the Velcro-shoes worn by the cabin crew in Kubrick's 2001 on the way to the Moon.

    I once read in New Scientist that Velcro wouldn't be strong enough for that task, but mini suction-cups would be (or vice-versa, it was a long time ago). As any fule knos, geckos feet provide a huge surface area; their pads are structures that are subdivided many times over down to the microscopic level.

    0 0 Reply
  6. El_Fev

    All this time ...

    It never occured to me that reptiles play about for fun.

    0 0 Reply
  7. M7S
    Mushroom

    Blofeld's cat

    Is there a white Persian missing its collar?

    Or just a white Persian missing?

    Icon from a different film in the series, but you probably get the point

    0 0 Reply
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    New stimulus

    Looks like most species play when introduced to a new stimulus. Guess it's a quick way to adapt.

    2 0 Reply
  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Collars eh?

    What is it about weightlessness that turns horny Russian space geckos into BDSM kinksters? And will the Russian space agency be releasing this footage as a DVD set, on the off chance they keep exploring?

    0 0 Reply
  10. ma1010
    Alien

    Just playing?

    "...because “play” is a pretty advanced behaviour to be exhibited by a mere gecko."

    Obviously the radiation in space has mutated them. Let me be the first to welcome our new gecko overlords upon their return to Earth.

    2 0 Reply
    1. x 7
      Reply Icon

      Re: Just playing?

      David Icke was the messiah. He spake truth

      1 0 Reply
  11. vesperto

    The Gecko Objective

    And what was the point of sending geckos into space in the first place? That would've been an interesting bit of journalism.

    0 0 Reply

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