Animal Diaries Archive

Blue-tongues

29 December 2006

When you come into the Zoo you are likely to encounter (and pat!) our Blue-tongue Lizards. Most of you would know what a Blue-tongue Lizard is and would have quite often seen them out in the wild in your backyard, under your house or they may have even ventured in the laundry, eating all your insects, snails or vegetation.

For those of you who don’t know anything about the Blue-tongue Lizard, they are not venomous and have this blue tongue for a defence mechanism to scare off predators. They can vary in colours from really light grey to dark grey, and are the largest of the skink family. If you don’t have dogs or cats you are more likely to see them, as our domestic pets are their main predators. They are also very popular as a pet if you really like your reptiles, but you do need a reptile licence to own any kind of reptile and the lizard must come from a breeder, not from the wild. These guys are pretty easy to handle and even better to watch, with that blue tongue poking out at you. So if you haven’t seen or touched one, make sure you do if you’re coming for a visit to the Zoo!