Thinking ahead to help save rare Victorian skinks

[mad_at_arms]

Zoos Victoria and the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s (DSE) Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI) have established captive populations of two threatened skinks to develop skills and learn lessons that may one day be needed to save wild populations of these rare lizards.

Senior Scientist at the ARI, Nick Clemann said: “Proactively developing husbandry and breeding protocols for the Alpine She-oak Skink (Cyclodomorphus praealtus) and Guthega Skink (Liopholis guthega), both listed as nationally Endangered, is an innovative approach to making sure we don’t lose these species in the wild.”
“Too often we wait until disaster has struck key populations of threatened species before we act. This time we are doing the critical work ahead of time rather than reacting following a catastrophic event. A team from ARI and Zoos Victoria collected both species from the Bogong High Plains in January and February 2012, and these lizards are now housed at the Healesville Sanctuary.”
“The cooperation between Zoos Victoria and ARI and is a great example of how wildlife ecologists and experts in captive husbandry for conservation work together to reduce the risk of extinction faced by threatened species.”
Curator of Life Sciences at Healesville Sanctuary, Russel Traher added: “These two skink species are on Zoos Victoria’s list of 20 priority threatened species that is part of our Fighting Extinction commitment, and we now have colonies of both skinks living in the Healesville Sanctuary Reptile House.”
“Neither of these species has been held in captivity before, and there is much to learn about their biology and behaviour.”
“Now they are under close observation at Healesville we can add crucial information to the data collected in the wild by Nick Clemann.”
“We wanted to establish captive-breeding and husbandry protocols for these species because their habitats are confined to isolated high altitude plateaux in the alpine areas of Victoria and New South Wales, so a single incident like a fire or disease could rapidly jeopardise wild populations of both species. The habitat of both species was impacted by the 2003 and 2006/07 fires in the Victorian Alps highlighting their vulnerability to major fires.”
“If the worst did happen in the wild, we want to be ready to salvage survivors, breed them in captivity, and re-stock wild areas once habitat conditions have recovered. This approach integrates both wild and captive conservation strategies.”
For more information go to: www.zoo.org.au/Conservation

‘Who’s new in the Zoo?’ Thinking ahead to help save rare Victorian skinks

It would be good if they become available to keep privately in future.