kickstarter for gecko field study?

[Neill]

So I was thinking there is a great online site called www.kickstarter.com .

Basically its to get people that like your idea to donate to your cause and in return those people get back, ether your invention (if tech) or perhaps free tickets (if its a play)... and so on a journal of gecko info if field study .

Well I was thinking in all the searches I have done for gecko info the studies I have found are all quite a few years old and info isn't all that detailed no pics of actual den sites, or area. Soil type, clay, rock, sand (we all love sand question). Climate actual change summer, winter (another fun debate your to hot your to cold)

I was thinking there is enough interest, people, and small funding, here to really get something nice started. I had a few ideas as an out line I would like to share if this went through.

1.)Find a decent Zoologist , Herpetologist , biologist willing to travel and take a few months off to travel to an area (most likely north west India safest with whats happening in world) for the study.

2.) Have video/written documented info on temp,weather,territory,area,hunting habits, prey in area, predators in area, mating, egg incubation and flora/fauna of area. (I know some info you may say we know mating, egg incubation. but would be nice to have someone in field with a temp probe buried right beside some eggs and see temp fluctuations. Also nice to see if males fight for females and horde females.

3.) See if maybe we can get our own little documentary video for donating as our reward for helping in this idea.

4.) Who knows maybe someone big will see the interest and really fund. (hopes and dreams aniaml planet, nat geo, discovery or even good old PBS)

Well in any event it doesn't happen if no one talks about it!

So I am willing to try and start this fire. Tell me what ya guys think?

 

[Thorgecko707]

Safest place to herp for eublepharines is in united states. India is a good place to get shot, sold, go missing too.

 

[Franklinj480]

India is actually pretty safe... I feel more at risk walking down my hometown streets than I ever did in India. I went hiking in the Himalaya foothills and never once felt an uneasy or paranoid feeling. I think you're more likely to get kidnapped by drug cartels if you're herping in the southwest US.

If I was more into my biology major than I am now I'd totally jump on the opportunity, It'd mostly just be education for me, observing and doing what I was told to do. Intern stuff.

Leopard geckos would be such a narrow subject though. As biased as we are on this forum, there's nothing we'd want more, but would the giant documentary directors think it a good idea? It would definitely be a privately funded Indie doc. Which isn't bad, it would just take some film/crew skill + talent and motivation to make it happen.

 

[Thorgecko707]

I've been wanting to go. Seems like the most likely export also.

 

[Neill]

I know Eublepharis macularius is just one animal. But think about all the specials on just lions or just on tigers.

Of course there would be other species that a Leo must run across through out its life on the wild, and that info of course would be touched on. Just like those lion videos or tiger videos.

Who knows maybe Eublepharis macularius space is being taken up by wonderful humanity like every other wild animal out there.

All in all I think it would be very interesting take the spot light off all the giant species (lions, whales, polar bears, pandas). Give it to the small species that are just as endangered of disappearing, reptiles especially.

Here's what most people don't know, but need to:

● Up to 30,000 species per year are going extinct: three per hour.
● Fifty percent of all primates and 100 percent of all great apes are threatened with extinction.
● Three of the world's eight tiger subspecies became extinct in the past 60 years; the remaining five are all endangered.
● Humans have already driven 20 percent of all birds extinct.
● Twelve percent of mammals, 12 percent of birds, 31 percent of reptiles, 30 percent of amphibians, and 37 percent of fish are threatened with extinction.

(ABOVE) Copy pasted from http://www.biologicaldiversity.org

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As Global Temperatures Rise, World's Lizards Are Disappearing: 20 Percent of All Lizard Species Could Be Extinct by 2080

(ABOVE) copy and pasted from http://www.sciencedaily.com

I'm glad this has had a few responses cant wait to hear some more.