This morning I finally saw (and caught) the mysterious gyirigantoori that I’d heard about from my Mamprusi friends over the years. Turns out this “deadly” creature that they say can cause lightning to strike and inflict leprous wounds on anyone who touches its toxic tail is, in fact, just the harmless Hemitheconyx caudicinctus or African Fat-tailed Gecko. Folks are quite shocked and terrified that I am currently holding it in a box in my house.
I’m excited to be able to add it to the Mampruli-English Dictionary Project since the linguists had never seen one and weren’t sure what creature the Mampruli word described (they had it listed as a possibly poisonous skink).
It was much larger than I expected (7.6 inches) and quite aggressive. It would raise its body, hiss and strike when I would try to catch it. It bit me (I was wearing gloves) and though its teeth don’t amount to much, its grip was really strong.