The Giant Gecko in the Museum Basement
In 1979, a researcher in a French museum found a stuffed gecko 60 centimetres long, the biggest ever seen. No one knew where it came from. A Māori legend might know.
What was reported
In the storerooms of the Natural History Museum in Marseille, a herpetologist found a stuffed lizard with no label: a gecko about 60 centimetres long, far larger than any known species. It was described as a new species in 1986.
Some scientists linked it to the kawekaweau, a large forest lizard described by Māori in New Zealand. In the 1870s, a Māori chief told a naturalist he had killed one in a forest in the North Island.
Explanations offered
It remains the only specimen. A recent study of its DNA found it was related to the geckos of New Caledonia and renamed it Gigarcanum delcourti, but its true homeland, and whether it is the kawekaweau, are still uncertain.
- When
- Found in 1979
- Where
- Natural History Museum, Marseille, France
- Witnesses
- Museum staff and scientists
- Status
- Partly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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