A TEAM from Durrell has helped save dozens of rare baby geckos after their eggs came under attack from invasive ants in Mauritius.

The rescue is part of an important project to protect the lesser night gecko, a tiny species found only on the Indian Ocean island.

In December, 142 lesser night gecko eggs were carefully flown from Jersey Zoo to Mauritius.

The aim was to help increase the species’ genetic diversity – the mix of different genes that helps animals stay healthy and survive.

The project followed an oil spill in 2020, which released about 1,000 tonnes of fuel into the Indian Ocean after a ship struck a coral reef, affecting the gecko population.

This was the second time eggs had been moved from Jersey. Earlier last year, 57 eggs were transported, and the results were very encouraging.

Around 88% of the eggs hatched, and the young geckos were successfully released into the wild on the small Mauritian island of Ilot Vacoas.

But the second release ran into unexpected trouble. Scientists discovered that many of the eggs were being attacked by big-headed ants, an invasive species.

These ants were harming newly hatched geckos and even turning unhatched eggs over, which can stop the baby geckos inside from developing properly.

Monitoring showed that a quarter of the eggs believed to have hatched had clear signs of being attacked, while it was impossible to tell what had happened to many others.

The team acted quickly. They collected the remaining 91 unhatched eggs and moved them to a secure wildlife facility run by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.

Staff checked the eggs every day, and whenever a gecko hatched, it was released onto Ilot Vacoas within 28 hours.

Thanks to this fast response, 68 young geckos were successfully released into the wild.

Dr Nik Cole from Durrell said the team had not expected the ants to become such a problem after the success of the first release.

He said acting quickly with their partners helped save more than half of the eggs from Jersey Zoo and that future eggs will hopefully be incubated and released by hand to give even more geckos the best chance of survival.