Category Archives: Reptiles

New Publication in Austral Ecology

Using monitors to monitor ecological restoration Did you know that across Australia there are around 60,000 abandoned mine sites, and among active sites, around 75% are on land of considered to be of high conservation value? Habitat loss is a leading driver of biodiversity loss globally, and restoring lands degraded through human activities is essentialContinue reading “New Publication in Austral Ecology”

Cover Image for the Australian Journal of Zoology

My perentie and her mate were featured on the cover of the newest issue of the Australian Journal of Zoology. You can check out all the great wildlife papers in the issue here, including our article which discusses the need for assessments of animal behaviour in studies of restoration success and tracks a perentie throughContinue reading “Cover Image for the Australian Journal of Zoology”

Society for Ecological Restoration, Cape Town South Africa

In assessments of mine site restoration success, animals are often overlooked and assumed to return following the return of vegetation. This is commonly known as the Field of Dreams hypothesis, as in practice, recovering biodiversity to a level representative of the pre-disturbance system can be a very challenging task. Among existing studies, there is aContinue reading “Society for Ecological Restoration, Cape Town South Africa”

Australia’s coolest lizard species

Very excited to find my first thorny devil (Moloch horridus)- these little dragons are incredible, they are they covered in spikes and exceptionally good at camouflaging into the bush, and also have a “false head” on their neck, which when they dip their head helps to hide their real head from predators! They also useContinue reading “Australia’s coolest lizard species”

Australia’s largest lizard!

Growing up to 2.5m in length, Perentie’s (Varanus giganteus) are Australia’s largest lizard species, and one of my absolute favourite species of varanid. They have incredibly distinctive markings on their throats, which they like to puff out (along with the occasional hiss) to let you know you’re an unwelcome visitor. These perenties were found inContinue reading “Australia’s largest lizard!”

The first herps of the season are emerging!

Spring is kicking in, and the reptiles have started to emerge again! One of my favourites to see around is the resident yellow spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes) that lives in a disused area of our site. This monitor is exceptionally wary, and disappears down its burrow when approached, or if it sees human movement, andContinue reading “The first herps of the season are emerging!”