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Miami Herald

Wildlife photographer captures ‘rare' behavior in Australia. Watch the creature

To be successful, wildlife photographers need more than the right kind of lens on their cameras and great editing software. Often, it's about being in the right place at the right time. For Ross McGibbon, a wildlife photographer specializing in reptiles and based in Australia, the place was arid Western Australia, and the time was about three weeks ago when he stumbled upon a little gecko. 'While exploring the remote Kimberley region of (Western Australia), I came across a juvenile Northern knob-tailed gecko (Nephrurus sheai), displaying a rarely documented behavior — sand bathing (flicking dirt all over itself),' McGibbon wrote in an April 14 Instagram post. His camera narrowed in on the small creature, and he recorded a video that was then posted on social media. 'Flying ants were occasionally landing on the young gecko, and it appeared to respond by tossing dirt across its body,' McGibbon wrote. The small animal digs its back feet into the sediment, then uses its front feet like scoops to pick up dirt and small rocks and launch it over its shoulder and across its body, its small, knobby tail lifting from the ground, according to the video. 'This could be a grooming response or a defensive reaction to irritation caused by the insects,' McGibbon wrote. 'It's also possible the gecko was trying to better camouflage itself after being disturbed — using dirt as natural cover.' There are still a lot of unknowns about the ecology and behavior of the knob-tailed geckos in this area because they are significantly understudied, McGibbon told Yahoo News Australia. The Kimberley region is 'extremely isolated,' he told the outlet, and the geckos are typically found in dry caves and rocky areas. 'Capturing this kind of behavior in the wild is quite rare, especially in such a young individual,' McGibbon wrote in his Instagram post. 'These moments are a reminder of how much there is still to uncover about the lives of Australia's lesser-seen nocturnal reptiles.' Nephrurus sheai, commonly known as the Northern knob-tailed gecko or the Kimberley rough knob-tail, is found north of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia and across the northwestern part of the Northern Territory, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.