One thing that you can only get working at a school in the rural village of Cambodia, is an abundance of wildlife that enters your classroom.
This little guy was Pre-Kindergartens latest visitor. A beautiful gecko, “takkae” in Khmer language. These little guys can be found all throughout Southeast Asia. Today he was found just chilling out on the wall.
A few of my students told me if they bite it is very painful. So I just admired him from a safe distance. I think he even has a slight injury on his nose. Even that wasn't enough for me to get in closer.
Sadly after a quick wiki search on the beautiful little creatures, I found this:
This species is poached for the medicinal trades in parts of Asia.[6] The Tokay gecko is an ingredient in Traditional Chinese medicine known as Ge Jie (蛤蚧). It is believed to nourish the kidneys and lungs, beliefs that are not substantiated by medical science. The animal remains highly sought after in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Asia with Chinese communities, to the point where unscrupulous merchants have taken to disfiguring monitor lizards with prosthetics to pass them off as colossal Tokay gecko specimens.[5]
The Tokay gecko is quickly becoming a threatened species in the Philippines due to indiscriminate hunting. Collecting, transporting and trading in geckos without a license can be punishable by up to twelve years in jail and a fine of up to Php 1,000,000.00 under Republic Act 9147 in addition to other applicable international laws.[7] However, the trade runs unchecked due to the sheer number of illegal traders and reports of lucrative deals. Chinese buyers and other foreign nationals are rumored to pay thousands of dollars for large specimens, because of their alleged medicinal value or as commodities in the illegal wildlife trade.
Saddens me to think possibly one-day future generations of children may not be able to admire these beautiful creatures like my gorgeous 21 students did today.
What do you think about these cute guys? Did you know Should have I risked my life to make a better assessement of his injury to his nose?
Want to check out some of my usual posts of our Cambodian adventures? Check out some of my other posts:
https://steemit.com/travel/@mumma-monza/travel-health-insurance-matters
https://steemit.com/bipolar/@mumma-monza/when-your-child-has-bipolar
https://busy.org/@mumma-monza/haircuts-in-cambodia-what-will-i-do
https://steemit.com/cambodia/@mumma-monza/ice-skate-in-cambodia-escape-the-heat
https://steemit.com/travelphotography/@mumma-monza/epic-water-fight-siem-reap-cambodia
https://steemit.com/cambodia/@mumma-monza/school-turned-prison-cambodia
https://steemit.com/travel/@mumma-monza/kids-eat-scorpion-siem-reap-cambodia-leaving-mixed-reviews
https://steemit.com/expat/@mumma-monza/cambodia-ranked-4-top-destinations-for-expats
Proud mum and member of the @Steemmamas discord group. the coolest hangout for Steem mama's #fact.
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