Lizard life

I've become quite fond of lizards up here in the tropics.

First there are our geckos. Ken is kept company by a group of five or six critters every night as he sits out on the balcony. These are Asian house geckos, native to south-east Asia and the Indo-Pacific. The species first appeared in Darwin a few decades ago, and apparently they are the most invasive reptile species in the world. As temperatures increase with climate change, look out for Asian house geckos appearing soon on a balcony near you.

For something so small, they make astonishingly loud clicking sounds. The crew of geckos appear when Ken turns on the balcony lights, and the insects start to gather. But the geckos scorn the small insects. They are after the big, furry, sumptuous moths. Watching a moth being stalked is entertaining. The gecko creeps forward, flattened toe pad by flattened toe pad. Closer and closer, and then ... pounce! They aim for the moth's head. We've seen a few miscalculate and grab a wing, only for the moth to flap away with an affronted and slightly asymmetric demeanour.

We were kept company by lizards at Bamurru too. They were on the inside of our 'tent'. I thought they were geckos but a closer look shows they don't have flattened toe pads or any other obvious gecko quality. They may be skinks — any herpetological advice would be gratefully received!

From geckos / possible skinks to goannas (monitor lizards). They're not easy to find but we have seen one nice-sized goanna, possibly a lace monitor, while we were cycling around East Point. I love their distinctive markings. They really are handsome reptiles.

Goannas eat just about anything they can catch and swallow whole: insects, birds, eggs, small reptiles and mammals. Apparently crocodile eggs are a favourite food. They’ll also scavenge for carrion and are attracted to rotting meat. We saw a floodplain goanna, also called the yellow-spotted goanna, in Bamurru, sauntering along in the long grass near the magpie geese nests. Where there are birds' eggs, there are goannas.

The biggest Australian goanna is the perentie, which grows to about 2 metres long. I saw this perentie in Alice Springs a few years ago. Alice is in the Northern Territory, so I'm not really cheating by including these photos. (Althought the perentie is a desert goanna, and Darwin is anything but a desert ... oh well.)

Saved my favourite lizard for last! These perky, upright dudes are a type of dragon, called Gilbert's dragon. The common name for this group of lizards is ta-ta lizard, because they wave their hands after they run as if they're saying, 'Ta-ta! Bye-bye!'

The white stripe is intriguing. It looks like white paint has been brushed on their face — or they've had an encounter with a rogue road-marking machine.

I hear you asking: who was Gilbert, for whom the dragon is named? John Gilbert was a British naturalist who spent much of his life traipsing around the Australian bush 'discovering' Australian fauna. In 1845 he was part of the Leichhardt expedition from Brisbane to Darwin. (You may remember that the explorer Leichhardt met a mysterious end in 1858, and is commemorated by a plinth in the Esplanade.*) Gilbert met his own sticky end when he was killed by an Aboriginal spear, although it's possible that he was shot by another expedition member. For his trouble, there are a few geographical spots named after him and two animals: Gilbert's potoroo and Gilbert's dragon. How's that for fame.

We see dozens of small ta-ta lizards when we cycle to East Point. They're small and very fast, too fast to photograph, as they dash across the track ahead of us. They're also excellent climbers. This Gilbert's dragon tried to escape us by climbing a tree. A very short tree, unfortunately for him.

From the sublime (dragons) to the ridiculous. The NT News and its puns, hey.

* https://jajustus.wixsite.com/website/post/esplanayd-esplanaahd