Meet the Eastern blue-tongue
The eastern blue-tongue is one of Australia's largest skinks, a heavy-bodied lizard with a big head, short legs and silvery-grey skin crossed by broad dark bands. It is a familiar sight in suburban gardens, where it shelters under rocks, logs and leaf litter at night and comes out to bask on sunny mornings.
It isn't fast, so it can't outrun a predator. Instead it turns to face the threat, opens its pink mouth wide and pokes out its broad blue tongue, hissing and flattening its body to look bigger. Strong jaws and large teeth let it crush snail shells and beetles, which makes it a welcome garden visitor.
Blue-tongues give birth to live young. Females usually have about 10 babies, and up to 19, between December and April, three to five months after mating. The young measure about 13–14 cm at birth and fend for themselves straight away.
This was one of the first Australian reptiles known to European science. John White described it as Lacerta scincoides in his 1790 Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, the account of the First Fleet's arrival.
Where it lives
South-eastern Australia, from south-eastern South Australia through Victoria and New South Wales into Queensland, including suburban Sydney and Brisbane. Its northern relative (T. s. intermedia) replaces it across tropical Australia.