I’m halfway up a tree and there’s a Duvaucell’s gecko giving me a very disconcerting grin. I’m perched so I can see across the expanse of burrowed ground that forms one of our rako study-plots, in a tree with nice smooth bark that no giant centipedes can hide in. But it also appears to be home of this rather chunky specimen of NZ’s largest gecko species. Our pest-free seabird islands are also a refuge for many reptiles that just can’t hack life on the mainland, where they get munched by introduced mammals. It’s always special to see them out here on the Poor Knights, where they really thrive. They’re stunning creatures. But they always look like they know something you don’t…