Biological experiments have taken five Mauritian geckos to space. Russian scientists wish to make observations of the sexual behaviour of the green lizards in zero-gravity environments. Mauritius just got famous!
The curiosity of the human mind has fired many of humanity’s greatest adventures. Humans are characterised by their habit of constantly asking and going after mysterious questions, like the what-would-happen-ifs. Often enough, these questions lead to faraway places – sometimes, even to outerspace. As a result of this, humans have been driven into space. Lately, it is a group of ‘Mauritians’ having had this honour; though, the first Mauritians to put their steps into space are, in fact, lizards!
Russian researchers have wondered whether lizards would be able to remain sexually active in space. Observing this phenomenon would only be possible by sending lizards out into space, right? Therefore, the scientists chose five Mauritian geckos to be sent into space to observe their sexual behaviour. The satellite Foton-M4 was launched on Saturday 26th of July of this year, packed with the geckos together with a webcam to film the happenings. The aim of the project was to observe whether lizards would be able to reproduce in an environment devoid of gravity. Eerily, this was expected to be translated into something like a lizard space-sex tape. Can humanity get any weirder?!
The lizards are the Mauritian ornate day geckos, with scientific name Phelsuma ornata, sent away on an outer-space-honeymoon with supplies of water and food. They are green lizards, of 12 cm in length. This lizard species originates from Mauritius and is found on the islets surrounding the main island, namely Round Island, Ile aux Aigrettes and Coin de Mire. They usually feed on insects and nectar. If any egg is to be produced from the union, the baby lizards will see the daylight in around 40 days.
The project nearly failed when the Earth lost contact with Foton-M4. However, luckily for the lizards onboard, the satellite was relocated by the scientists. Now, we have to wait and watch as to what do the space sex geckos – thus named by Daily Mail – do!