This blue tongue lizard was clearly not fooled by the request to take a dip and strike on an outcrop of late Neoproterozoic cap carbonate in the Flinders Ranges. He was also clearly unimpressed with the fact that he was standing at the end of the 'Snowball Earth' and the start of the Ediacaran Period. There's just no pleasing some lizards!
The fat tail shows that he was in good condition as that's where they store their fat reserves.
Blue tongues, shinglebacks, or sleepy lizards, as they are commonly known, are members of the skink family (Scincidae).
And here I was thinking that there were no precambrian skinks. But that one's very cute...
ReplyDeleteAnd now I'm on a forum where everyone seems to trade photos of baby bluetongues. This could take a while...