00:02For more than 15 years, University of Queensland researchers have been studying eastern water
00:07dragons in Brisbane's Roma Street Parkland.
00:10It's become infected with the fungus there, that's that yellow bit there.
00:14So it's entered through the wound and then started an infection in the skin.
00:18But something they first spotted on a single water dragon in 2013 now has them worried.
00:24We caught this individual and we started seeing this yellow crust on its skin and I remember
00:29we went back to the field notes and we said strange disease on the skin and that's how it began.
00:35Now half of the reptiles in the parkland are infected with a fungal pathogen causing skin lesions.
00:41Occasionally what can happen is that the lesion gets so bad that the animal's limb might fall off
00:46or they start to lose digits and so on.
00:48Researchers say little is known about the fungus itself.
00:52That includes where it comes from and the effect it could have on Australia's diverse reptile population.
00:57It doesn't have any treatment and can basically impact the majority of the reptile species we have in Australia.
01:05And yet we know so very little about it and that to me is a problem.
01:10Experts say fungal diseases are a growing concern around the world.
01:14Wildlife disease is something that's incredibly understudied in general and so the more we learn
01:20unfortunately like in this study the more we realise what a potential threat it is to Australia's biodiversity.
01:27A bit of a millionỏ people can see.
01:28I plan on that list that you have a variety of surfaces of my rivers thatalnest the wrong car
01:29to a certain parts of mylla World.
01:30andshaped train elements in your projections,
01:30but let me know so I can see what a brilliant situation of the區.
01:30And so we'll keep going on and see what you guys have done that scene in the roadmap.
01:31That's one of those types of HTTP
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