Date Time
Farmers and scientists unite for pint-sized pygmies
Fifty-two pygmy blue-tongues have been released on a farm in a southern area of the mid-north, 90km north of Adelaide, as part of a $400,000 Flinders University Australian Research Council Linkage project to save them from looming extinction as our climate warms.
Pygmy blue-tongues are unique to South Australia and live in grasslands, predominantly sheep grazing land in the mid-north. Their population is endangered due to habitat limitations and limited dispersal ability with the skinks found from Kapunda up to Jamestown.
“Modelling indicates these lizards are in danger of extinction in around 50 years’ time due to climate change,” says Flinders University’s Associate Professor Mike Gardner, lead researcher on the ARC project.