The photo below is of an Eastern Blue Tongue (Tiliqua scincoides). I took the photo today as she was scurrying to hide behind the pot plant you can see top right (in the neighbour’s yard). At some point she must have been frightened and dropped her tail as a new, stumpier one has grown back.
Blue tongues are the largest member of the skink family (they can grow up to 60cm or 23″). They are quite common in Aussie gardens. I love them and hope we have one hiding somewhere.
The are perfectly harmless (although a fully grown one would probably leave a bruise if it bit you). If you get close they will hiss and poke out their tongue to scare you. Their tongue, like their name suggests, is blue.
Would you like one in your garden?
November 27, 2020 at 3:24 am
Definitely! Gorgeous addition to any garden. That tongue!!!!
Deb
November 27, 2020 at 4:41 pm
It’s a stunning colour, isn’t it.
November 27, 2020 at 3:55 am
What a cool looking creature, and I love the blue tongue! I hope she does her part by eating garden pests 🙂
November 27, 2020 at 4:42 pm
They are omnivorous, but they do eat the snails! Definitely a garden helper.
November 27, 2020 at 5:46 am
He’s kinda cute… you have some strange animals in Australia…
November 27, 2020 at 4:42 pm
Much like the people 😉
November 27, 2020 at 9:38 am
That would scare the bejeszus out of me. Although, I’m easily startled by lizards.
November 27, 2020 at 4:47 pm
They aren’t all that fast for a reptile, so there are no jump scare as such. But they are quite big and they pretend to be really fierce, so I can understand why you might find them scary.
November 27, 2020 at 10:23 am
EEEEEEPPPPPP nope nope nope nope nope
November 27, 2020 at 4:48 pm
Hahaha, I didn’t think they’d be your cuppa tea. But they really are lovely 😉
November 27, 2020 at 2:34 pm
What a spectacular beast. We has 16-18 skinks here in Florida( it depends on which expert you talk too, and their criteria of how an alien species can become native), but we don’t have any like that one, We have some Tegus breading close to us, but, so far, they are still considered invasive.
Maybe next week they will be here, Florida has a huge population of many species of snowbird, some have scales.
November 27, 2020 at 4:51 pm
We have 33 species of skink where I live, but Australia does have a lot of reptiles (869 species and most unique to Oz). Fortunately for me, I moved to where it is cold in winter, so snowbirds (even the scaly kind) tend to leave in the winter months. Although it is the capital of Australia so the centre of politics… I guess we are never lacking the scaly kind, lol.