When helicopters poisoned a tiny island in the Galápagos, a 'once-extinct' animal appeared

Once thought to be extinct on Rábida Island in the Galápagos, the leaf-toed gecko (Phyllodactylus maresi) has been rediscovered. 

Endemic to the Galápagos Islands, the leaf-toed gecko measures just eight centimetres in length. Until recently, scientists only knew it existed on Rábida because of ancient, 5,000-year-old fossils.

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In 2011, a restoration and rewilding project – led by Island Conservation with its partners Galapagos National Park, Charles Darwin Foundation and The Raptor Center – began on Rábida Island, along with ten other islands in the Galápagos. 

Part of the project involved distributing poisoned bait over large areas using helicopters, the first time that this had been done in South America.

The poison was being used to eradicate the non-native, invasive brown rats, which predate vulnerable native species – including geckos. 

The rats were confirmed as eliminated from Rábida Island by 2012, and conservationists found that native wildlife began to bounce back, with populations able to recover and grow without the negative impact on the invasive predators. 

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A single gecko was found, photographed and collected in 2012, but the specimen went missing from the collection where it was meant to be stored. 

Then, when field teams found and collected live geckos on Rábida Island in 2019 and 2021, morphological and DNA analysis – published in a paper in the journal PLOS ONE this month – confirmed that they were leaf-toed geckos. 

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“The return of this gecko highlights nature’s incredible power to heal itself when given the chance,” says Paula Castaño, Island Conservation’s Impact Program Manager. “It’s another example of the recovery we’ve seen on islands worldwide: when you rebalance an ecosystem, it can bounce back quickly and dramatically.”

In addition, the analysis revealed that the geckos from Rábida Island are distinct enough from the other populations of the species to be given the status of Evolutionary Significant Unit (ESU), highlighting the importance for conservation of this Rábida Island population.

It’s thought that further DNA analysis is needed on the Phyllodactylus genus, with additional sampling required, to determine the taxonomic status of the different populations.

Top image: Rábida Island is a small, rugged isle in the Galápagos. Credit: Getty

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