It may resemble a juvenile Brown Snake, but the Striped Legless Lizard is a shy, non-venomous critter.
It measures 30cm in length and weighs about 9 grams. Its tail is longer than its head and body combined. Many, but not all, have a dark stripe along each side of their grey-to-brown bodies (no juvenile snake in Australia has stripes along its entire body length).
Unlike a snake it has a fleshy, unforked tongue, visible external ears and vestigial legs. This lizard’s legs have disappeared through evolution, leaving a small protrusion where the legs once were.
Without legs, the sleek Striped Legless Lizard can move through grasslands with ease and burrow quickly into the soil.
Where do they live live?
The Striped Legless Lizard is found in south-eastern Australia, mostly on Victoria’s volcanic plains, the grass plains of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
This species lives in native tussock grasslands dominated by Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra) or Spear Grass (Austrostipa spp.). While it’s also found where exotic grasses dominate, it’s unknown how persistent these populations are. They’re thought to have a small home range.
The lizard may be relatively widespread, but it’s now uncommon across this range. It’s listed as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Vulnerable under Australian legislation.
Striped Legless Lizard behaviour
These creatures are active in the day time, foraging in grass tussocks and sheltering in soil cracks at the base of grass tussocks and under rocks for rest and protection. They squeak when threatened and to communicate with each other.
Striped Legless Lizards can jump (yes, without legs) 30cm into the air to escape ground-dwelling predators! They can also confuse predators by detaching their tails, which continue to wriggle!
Striped Legless Lizards are carnivorous but their diet hasn't been well studied. It’s thought they feed mainly on crickets, spiders and moth larvae and supplement this with grasshoppers, caterpillars, cockroaches and other insects.
Females breed at 3 to 4 years old and will lay two eggs per clutch, sometimes in a communal nest. Breeding typically occurs in spring with eggs laid in early summer. The eggs hatch after about five months and may live to be 10 to 20 years old. 1
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Threats to Striped Legless Lizards
Habitat loss is the major threat to the ongoing survival of Striped Legless Lizards. About 99.5% of their preferred habitat – natural temperate grassland in south-eastern Australia – has been destroyed or drastically altered since European settlement. 2
Much of the lizard’s habitat has been degraded and fragmented by farming, urbanization. Inappropriate grazing pressure, the removal of rocks, ploughing, inappropriate fire regimes and weed invasion.
Striped Legless Lizards are unable to survive in areas where the ground is disturbed by heavy grazing or crop tilling. As such, there are only a few intact habitats left!
What’s Bush Heritage doing?
Times are tough for the Striped Legless Lizard, which has continued to lose habitat to urban development. When a site in the Canberra area that was known to contain these lizards was converted into a caravan park and tourist accommodation, Bush Heritage collected 115 lizards to relocate, giving them a second chance.
We translocated them to our Scottsdale Reserve, 45 minutes south of Canberra. We’ve removed stock from Scottsdale, replanted woodland trees, and more importantly for the Striped Legless Lizard, we’re controlling exotic grasses, and re-establishing the native grasslands the lizard favours.
This was the first experimental translocation of this species and provided a great opportunity to learn more about Striped Legless Lizards.
There are only a dozen or so populations of Striped Legless Lizards in NSW, so this new population at Scottsdale could be very important in securing its survival.
Donate today to help us continue this and other vital conservation work.
