#shingleback

[herpsandbirds]

Shingleback Skink (Tiliqua rugosa), family Scincidae, QLD, Australia

photograph by Shane Walsh

[maekas]

Sleepy Lizard ~

[ningauinerd]

Doing sleepy lizard fieldwork in the Mid Murray today involved bountiful encounters with goofy fellas as usual

This guy is somehow missing the keratin on most of his large tail scales, revealing the bony scutes (osteoderms) beneath. We’re not exactly sure how this occurred, hopefully he’s not scuffed up too bad, but it is quite cool to look at

Then there’s grumps over here, sucking on his pacifier. We named him Cupcake after his delightful personality

Cupcake is now getting clamped because he’s naughty and bit someone (actually just taking a measurement of head depth)

Polite gentleman patiently getting his tail measured (not a sleepy lizard, doesn’t want to be here)

[katjapetersart]

Djii and Jamie share a moment.

[voidbirds]

Playing Tug'o'war with the Wyrmwood. I do this to mimic the way Shinglebacks would pull vegetation off plants in the wild. I usually wedge it in the glass doors but this bokchoy was just tearing apart.

[egglygreg]

It’s 2am and I just finished off this new Strahliana beast!

The shovelback is based off of a shingleback lizard (also known as blue tongues and sleepy lizards), ankylosaurus, and stegosaurus. The idea came from the fact that sleepies have a false head as a tail as protection from predators, combined with the myth that stegosaurus had an extra brain in its tail.

These guys are actually fairly chill, and will mostly just ignore anything that comes near unless it starts harassing them. They like to snooze in groups, usually parents with their offspring. They mate for life like sleepy lizards do irl. So sweet!

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But I didn’t just draw this guy. I also drew my first blight infected creature.

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Known as “blighters” by the folks of Strahna, anything infected by the blight becomes a warped version of itself, or is merged horribly with another living organism. Some are much less dangerous than others, but all of them carry the “infection” and are therefore a threat. This specific blighter is particularly nasty, spewing hallucinogenic gas from its primary head as well as dripping an even more concentrated liquid form from both its maws. If breathed in it causes drowsiness, wild hallucinations and disorientation that lasts a couple hours or more. A bite causes permanent insanity and a high chance of contracting the blight yourself.

However, the likelihood of escape from this beast is so slim you really don’t have to worry about any of that, because you’d have carked it long before.

[pencilpavlova]

Pinecone friend i made while spraying buffel yesterday 🌾

I love how chill wild sleepies are XD

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[Combined image ID: photos of a shingleback, aka sleepy lizard, aka stumpy tail, aka double ender, aka pinecone lizard, aka Tiliqua rugosa. It has large, overlapping scales that give a pinecone appearance and is brown with a yellowish belly and speckling. The lizard is sitting on cracked, reddish ground under sparse cover, with a few small seedlings popping up from recent rain.]

[pleistocene-pride]

The Shingleback lizard also known as the Yoorn, the two-headed skink, the stumpy-tailed skink, the boggi, the pinecone lizard, and the sleepy lizard, is a species of skink found throughout the continent of Australia. Its 2lb, 12 inch long body is heavily armored and can be found in various colors, ranging from dark brown to cream. It has a short, wide, stumpy tail that resembles that acts as a false head to confuse potential predators. The tail also contains fat reserves, which are drawn upon during brumation in winter. A diurnal species, the shingleback can be found throughout arid forests, shrublands, grasslands, and desert environments where it feed upon snails, worms, arthropods, carrion, grasses, and flowers. Shinglebacks themselves are preyed upon by dingoes, pythons, birds of prey, foxes and cats. Unlike most lizards, Shinglebacks are social animals that form monogamous pairs that have been known to return to each other every year for up to 20 years. They breed from September through November. These lizards are viviparous, giving birth to broods of 1 to 4 relatively large offspring. The gestation period usually lasts around 5 months. The young are born well-developed and weigh about ¼ to 1/3 of a lb. The young are raised by there parents for 4-6 months before striking off on there won, but they remain in close proximity, forming and living in a colony of closely related skinks.