00:02Reptiles aren't known for their love of family, but grey desert skinks bunker together for years.
00:09They'll live with grandparents, parents and children all in the one burrow system using the same latrine.
00:14So that does kind of make them quite unique.
00:17Once common across Australia's inland, this unique reptile is now under threat of extinction.
00:22They used to be really widespread across the desert and now they've really retracted so they're only known from 20
00:29locations around the desert.
00:31Protecting the animals known locally as jacquara means knowing where they live, and this calls for a deep knowledge of
00:37country.
00:39Yep, jacquara. Is that their toilet there, Clemmery? That's their toilet there?
00:44Well, jacquara is one of their own lizards that uses a toilet.
00:48Indigenous ranger groups across desert borders have joined forces to recover the reptile, which has cultural significance and has been
00:56a long-time source of food.
00:58We're trying to take it from being a threatened or a vulnerable animal to one that you can actually find
01:04a bit more, you know, back to being common.
01:07Its biggest threats are fire and predators, including the feral cat.
01:12Rangers use cameras to keep a close eye on burrows.
01:15They're just out of chacquara stand.
01:19Along with targeting cats, Rangers clear fire breaks to protect habitat.
01:24Periods are dry, periods are wet, vegetation growing faster than usual, then just catastrophes can happen.
01:33A national survey will be held next year to see if numbers have improved.
01:38So close to see if numbers are packed so we can discover problems with this, but I think about how
01:43it takes the situation,
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