Giant effort for pygmy blue-tongue lizard
Like 1 Dislike 0 Published on 17 Apr 2016
In March this year I visited Monarto Zoo in South Australia where they’re trialling the world’s first captive breeding programme for a lizard once thought to be extinct, the pygmy blue-tongue lizard. It's incredible that scientists rediscovered this lizard as recently as 1992, in the belly of a snake. Just as incredible is the effort Monarto Zoo has put in to help this endangered lizard.
The Australian Government is supporting the pygmy blue-tongue’s habitat through the National Landcare Programme. The SA Murray-Darling Basin NRM board, for example, receives $12.8 million in Australian Government funding and is supporting pygmy blue-tongue habitat restoration and protection. An additional 24 Green Army teams have also been approved in the region.
The pygmy blue-tongue lizard is special not only because it’s the smallest and most threatened of the Tiliqua family of blue-tongued skinks but because – unlike its more common cousins – its tongue is actually pink. It likes to make its home down spider holes, using them for shelter and for ambushing passing beetles, cockroaches, ants and other invertebrates.
The pygmy blue-tongue is often found in small isolated populations on farms, so working with landholders in these areas is one of the best ways to manage these precious lizards and safeguard their future.