In January, the Wildlife Crime Control Unit of Bangladesh Forest Department rescued a strange creature from illegal wildlife traders in the capital. Initially, it was thought to be an ordinary Tokay Gecko (Gekko gecko), locally called Tokkhak, which is often traded now-a-days due to the false notion that it can be sold to foreign buyers at a very high price.

Forest department officers had rescued many lizards before, but they were surprised to see that this lizard has wing-like outgrowths in two sides of its body that it unfolds to make a parachute-like structure when it glides from the branch of a tree to land on the ground, or to another branch. It also has skin outgrowths in legs and tail that helps it in gliding.

After hearing the news, I went to see the creature on January 25. I identified it to be a Smooth Parachute Gecko (Ptychozoon lionotum). Its snout-vent length was 92 mm and tail 87 mm. The colour was mainly brown with black markings. It is a very rare and secretive species of lizard that occurs mainly in a few Southeast Asian countries.

It is rarely seen because it is nocturnal and occurs in the upper canopy of broad-leaved forests. Since it is known to occur in Myanmar and Northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, we expect that it occurs in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), but a specimen was never found in Bangladesh before.

The trader who was in possession of it could not tell from where the lizard was captured because he bought it from someone else and didn't bother about it.

Since it behaved like wild creatures and was in good health, I think it was probably captured in the CHT. Had it been brought from abroad, it would not have been in good health. Notably, it did not eat anything during the several days in the custody of the forest department.