New to Science! Namibia’s Barking Geckos Identified Through Unique Calls

New to Science! Namibia’s Barking Geckos Identified Through Unique Calls

The barking gecko’s dusk chorus is iconic to Namibia’s arid wilderness. In 2025, six new species—five from Namibia—were officially named following years of fieldwork, genetic research, and bioacoustic analysis.

This discovery resolves 150-year-old questions recorded by historical explorers.

This talk showcases these novel species and traces their origins to the era of the dinosaurs, alongside methods for identifying species by call and practical field techniques for locating these elusive geckos in the wild.

About the speaker: Dr Francois Becker is a Senior Lecturer at the Namibia University of Science and Technology and a herpetologist specialising on reptiles and amphibians though his work also covers broader topics in zoology. Dr Becker specialises in piecing together the deep-time evolutionary histories of species using phylogenetics, ecology, and the study of habitats.

Dr Becker’s work on the barking geckos was done primarily under the affiliation of the National Museum of Namibia, South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Wits University, and Gobabeb Namib Research Institute, and with the support of many local and international institutions and individuals.

📅 Date: Thursday, 29 October 2026

🕖 Time: 19:00

📍 Location: Namibia Scientific Society, Windhoek

Join the presentation via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/8023841980