I know there's the eyelid gecko, but what about the rest?
2006-09-07 23:52:56 · 11 answers · asked by gareth s 1 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
I think its because they are a preditory animal and stalk their pray (insects).
If you have ever seen one they change colours slightly to blend in with their surroundings and stand so still you dont know they are there, so if they had eyelids and blinked it would cause them to move and be seen.
I think they have a clear membrane over their eyes and clean their eyes with their tounges.
2006-09-08 00:28:30 · answer #1 · answered by Krystle 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gecko is a very large group of reptile and some groups of reptiles do have eyelids, some don't!
Those that don't typically have a clear membrane which acts as an eyelid in that it protects the eye, and they can lick it clean, rather than blinking it.
The most common type of gecko with eyelids is the leopard gecko, and also the banded gecko, which make great pets and have eyelids like mammals.
However, most forms of snakes don't have eyelids like us, and it's not just geckos within the group of lizards that it applies to as well. All of the geckos who have eyelids are considered "Old World" species and a scientific reason I guess is because of location and the way they evolved / adapted to their climate, light patterns, predators, etc.
One reason is perhaps that these geckos are mostly sand dwelling and perhaps eyelids were evolved to blink sand out of their eyes which many rainforest or tree dwelling tropical lizards simply did not need.
At the end of the day I don't think anyone really knows the answer to the question, it simply seems that for one reason or another over the evolutionary period many reptiles did not evolve with eyelids, whilst some which evolved in specific areas or timelines did form eyelids, but this is quite unusual in the snake/lizard spectrum.
2006-09-09 09:18:09 · answer #2 · answered by welshsnakelady 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
leopard geckos have eyelids! :) also, it's not that they don't have eyelids, it's that the "eyelid" is an invisible single scale called a brille or spectacle, like snakes have.
2006-09-11 05:27:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My leopard gecko has eyelids..otherwise it wouldn't be able to sleep!
2006-09-11 11:34:43 · answer #4 · answered by wolfstorm 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My leopard gecko has eyelids. and if i wink at him he winks back. he is ten years old so i have had a while to train him lol.
2006-09-08 13:15:13 · answer #5 · answered by kayfromcov 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They have evolved the long licky tongue as an adaptation that proved successful
2006-09-08 07:42:24 · answer #6 · answered by Ichi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The same reason why some people have brown eyes, and others have blue eyes.Differences in species and heredity.
2006-09-08 06:58:22 · answer #7 · answered by WC 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because they don't need the blinking things!
2006-09-08 07:26:05 · answer #8 · answered by edmarda2 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they were born that way.
2006-09-08 07:13:29 · answer #9 · answered by Me 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because they have eye lenses...just the weay they evolved
2006-09-08 20:07:22 · answer #10 · answered by Morbid Angel 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋