Endangered And Legless, 70 Lizards Shown The Way To A New Home

The Age

Wednesday April 12, 2006

By JAMIE BERRY

IN THE past seven days, endangered species have become front page news, disrupting multimillion-dollar plans by government and industry.

Yesterday at Organ Pipes National Park, north-west of Melbourne, 70 striped legless lizards were released into a new home to little fanfare, oblivious to the news that has followed their threatened brethren.

Last week, the Federal Government overturned State Government approval for the Bald Hills wind farm in South Gippsland on the grounds that it might affect the endangered orange-bellied parrot.

It was also reported that a range of endangered species, including the striped legless lizard, would be threatened by a $400 million residential development proposed for Eynesbury, west of Melbourne.

There was once 22,000 square kilometres of grassland habitat suitable for the lizard, according to the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

"Now there's 1 per cent left of what we once had and they're now nationally threatened and endangered," said Alan Webster, the department's senior flora and fauna officer.

The 70 lizards were rescued, under permit, from Cairnlea, a new suburb in Melbourne's west. "Most of it (the habitat) has gone to cropping, agriculture and urbanisation," Mr Webster said. "It's also now very fragmented."

The lizards, which grow to 30 centimetres long and are thinner than a little finger, eat beetles, bugs, moths and larvae. They may look like small snakes, but there the similarities end. The lizards have a broad, flat tongue and hind flaps and can regrow their tails. When threatened, they emit a mouse-like squeal.

This was the third release of lizards back into the wild.

"We are still getting animals from 2001 being recaptured," Mr Webster said. "We hope they are breeding to further boost lizard numbers in the park."

© 2006 The Age

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