From big blue tongues and land mullets to small grey and brown garden skinks, these small-legged (or no-legged!) lizards are a common sight from Australia’s coasts to rainforests and arid areas to bustling cities.
But there are 4 special skinks that barely anyone sees, despite living in one of the most popular regions for hikers, skiers and mountain-bike riders. The Guthega skink, alpine-she oak skink, mountain skink and alpine bog skink are the ‘coldest of the cold-blooded’. They’re some of Australia’s alpine skinks, found at high altitudes in Australia’s alpine regions and nowhere else on Earth. They play a crucial role in keeping the alpine ecosystems in balance but are extremely rare and facing extinction.
Stoked on skinks
'I'm stoked on skinks! While these skinks lead private lives, if you’re walking through alpine areas and spot some granite rocky outcrops, chances are you’re travelling through the home of amazing Guthega skink!'
– Boen Ferguson, nature photographer, snowboarder and Jindabyne local.
Under threat
Just like all animals, skinks are part of the food web. They feed mostly on insects, as well as other invertebrates and plant material and have natural predators like snakes, other lizards and birds. However, these alpine skinks are under serious threat from feral animals like rats, cats and foxes, who’ve developed a taste for these endangered lizards.
Alpine skinks also face threats from feral herbivores and introduced weeds, which damage the delicate alpine ecosystem. Bushfires are a further threat to the skinks’ habitat, as we saw when large sections were destroyed in the 2019–20 bushfires, which also killed skinks, depleted food sources for those that survived and further exposed them to their predators.
Living at the highest altitudes in Australia makes these skinks unique but puts them in a tricky spot in a changing climate. As seasonal temperatures rise with climate change, their habitat gets smaller because trees and tall shrubs from lower elevations can grow further uphill into the, now warmer, alpine zone, overtaking the grassland and heathland essential for skinks. Animals that used to live at lower altitudes move upslope with the changing vegetation and can prey on or compete with skinks for habitat and food.
Did you know?
The mountain habitats of these 4 alpine skinks are so isolated that they’re sometimes described as ‘sky islands’ – each mountain top is separated from the others by a ‘sea’ of lower-altitude habitat that is unsuitable for these skinks. Such isolation means that any threat could devastate the population and make it hard for remaining skinks to survive.
Meet the alpine skinks
Protecting these species
Australia’s alpine skinks are key indicator species. This means they’re very sensitive to environmental changes in the ecosystem and can give an early warning that a habitat is suffering.
Both Guthega skink and alpine she-oak skink are protected as Assets of Intergenerational Significance, which means their critical habit has strong legal protection and its management is a high priority.
There are targeted conservation strategies for Guthega skink and alpine she-oak skink under the Saving our Species program. Conservation actions under these strategies include:
- monitoring
- mapping habitat
- capturing genetic data
- controlling feral pest species
- managing fire and human disturbance.
How you can help
If you’re visiting the habitat of Australia’s alpine skinks, including Kosciuszko National Park:
- ensure your boots are clean to help stop the spread of weeds and soil-borne diseases which impact both plants and animals
- keep to designated tracks
- never move rocks; they might be animal habitat
- observe and appreciate animals in their natural state from a reasonable distance; do not touch or pick them up
- take all your rubbish with you, including organic litter.
