Australian scientists discovered a lizard thought to be extinct
(Melbourne Zoo https://bit.ly/441BaEM)
The Melbourne Zoo has discovered a surviving population of Australian crypt-eared dragons, Tympanocryptis pinguicolla, thought to be extinct since 1969.
These small lizards are found only in the grassy plains of Victoria and suffer greatly from invasive predators and overgrazing.
Now zoologists intend to clarify how many dragons are left in the wild, and also start breeding them in captivity.
Many Australian reptiles have been severely affected by humans and introduced species.
For example, large monitor lizards and snakes often die from poisoning when they try to eat invasive aga toads (Rhinella marina) that have come to the continent with people.
Smaller reptiles are declining due to habitat destruction, water pollution, and predation by foxes and feral cats.
THE LITTLE DRAGON
One such species is the Australian crypt-eared dragon Tympanocryptis pinguicolla.
Until recently, zoologists believed that on the grassy plains in the uplands of Eastern Australia there were several populations of these small lizards, reaching only 15 centimeters in length.
However, then it turned out that most of them should be attributed to separate species.
And the name T. pinguicolla was retained only by a population from the state of Victoria, whose representatives were last seen in 1969.
More recent attempts to find T. pinguicolla have been unsuccessful.
Many experts have concluded that the species has completely disappeared due to the spread of feral cats and overgrazing, which destroyed the habitat.
According to this view, T. pinguicolla was the first reptile species to become extinct in continental Australia in historical time.
However, not all herpetologists have resigned themselves to the fact that the crypt-eared dragons from Victoria became extinct.
In 2017, employees of the Melbourne Zoo joined the search for this species.
And six years later, they finally managed to find a small population of T. pinguicolla in one of the regions of Victoria.
The exact location of the find is kept secret to protect the rare lizards from disturbance and poachers who trade reptiles.
It is not yet clear how many Agamas managed to survive.
To find out, experts plan to conduct additional searches with dogs trained to sniff out these reptiles.
Australian zoologists also intend to launch a captive breeding program for T. pinguicolla.
To do this, they caught and transported 16 representatives of the species to the Melbourne Zoo.
Previously, experts have already achieved success with a related species T. lineata, which lives in the vicinity of Canberra.
Sources:
- The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/25/australian-earless-dragon-last-seen-in-1969-rediscovered-in-secret-location
- News Au:https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/critically-endangered-earless-dragon-rediscovered-in-victoria/news-story/903acbd8541d85b5b39a9d68807ccf74
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