Never heard that term before and when I search it up Japanese results are all I get, maybe it's because it's more trad. vs bi hu which could be simp.?
nah, i'm pretty sure both use it. (Also baboon is from mainland) The term originated when ancient China saw gecko eating up pest and insect and thought they are protecting the royalty (守=protect, 宮=palace) i know for example sun gecko are called 日守宮
Yes "守宫" is the ancient Chinese name of gecko, but is now more widely used in Japanese. In China, "守宫" is used in pet industry, which means, almost all the pet gecko species have trade names of "XX 守宫". And "壁虎" is used in academia and every gecko species has a formal official name of "XX 壁虎".
