Skinks invade backyards across Australia

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Ten years ago, the sight of a six-toothed skink in Darwin would have sent reptile scientists into a frenzy. Now, it seems the Arnhem land species has taken over the city and scientists want the public's help to track its spread.

Transcript

00:00Meet the six-toothed rainbow skink, native to Australia but not to Darwin.

00:09But over the past ten years, their numbers have boomed.

00:13These things will wander up onto the back porch looking for food and we watch them from

00:20our pool eating insects.

00:21They're normally found in far north Queensland and the far northeast Northern Territory.

00:28It's most likely brought them further west.

00:30With the help of decades old specimens from the NT Museum's vast collections, this PhD

00:36candidate is trying to piece together their spread.

00:39This species seems to be spreading across Darwin and one of the first things we want

00:43to do is get a lot of records across the town of where they are and where they aren't.

00:48Top end residents are the research team's eyes and ears on the ground.

00:51By recording the skinks you see in your own backyard and uploading them online, you can

00:56help the researchers understand more about the spread of the six-toothed rainbow skink

01:01in the top end.

01:02Yeah, I'd be really interested in knowing what suburbs they occur in.

01:05Should we go have a look around here?

01:06Yeah, let's do it.

01:07There's one.

01:08There's one right there.

01:09Get him.

01:10Got him.

01:11Six-toothed rainbow skink.

01:12Very pretty lizard but they're not meant to be here.

01:22A lot larger than local skinks, they're easy to spot at home, but unlike notorious Australian

01:28invaders like the cane toad, they're not necessarily problematic.

01:32I certainly wouldn't encourage people to do anything about them.

01:38At the moment they're just delightful little lizards in people's backyard.

01:44Enjoy them while they're here.

01:47Building a clearer picture of a mysterious critter.

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