“Until recently, the Victorian grassland earless dragon was thought to be extinct after farms and suburbs destroyed almost all of its native habitat. Then, in 2023, scientists found a surviving wild population on a single private grazing property. Melbourne Zoo is now breeding the lizards, with the ultimate goal of returning a restored population to the wild.” Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. Melbourne is the capital of Victoria and was formerly the capital of Australia until 1927.
The Guardian reports:
The dragons’ lair looks deceptively ordinary: a pair of pale green portables, tucked behind the reptile enclosure at Melbourne zoo.
But the plain exterior belies its hidden treasures. Inside, dozens of Victorian grassland earless dragons, blissfully unaware of their status as Australia’s most imperilled reptile, are basking on rocks, gobbling up crickets or lapping up ‘dew’, expertly misted by their keeper Zac Harkin.
For 50 years these critically endangered creatures were thought extinct. But following their rediscovery in 2023, Zoos Victoria is not taking any chances.
The new dragon conservation centre at Melbourne zoo has room to accommodate hundreds, housed as singles or pairs in open-air glass condos, each one furnished with living plants and artificial burrows made of PVC piping
Each earless dragon has five white racing stripes, scales and “fangy” teeth. In a successful mating, females produce up to two clutches of around four eggs. The hatchlings take two months to arrive, and are fully formed miniatures, no bigger than a gram.
An endangered marsupial is also making a comeback in Australia.
Mussels are multiplying at Virginia Beach.
Fish species rebounded off the coast of California due to their young finding a sanctuary in abandoned oil rigs.
Bobcats have returned to New Jersey after disappearing from the state in the 1970s. Now, there are between 200 and 400 bobcats in New Jersey.
