Australia Battles to Save Last 11 Wild ‘Earless Dragons’ 

This picture taken on March 25, 2024 shows a grassland earless dragon lizard at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve located on the outskirts of the Australian capital city of Canberra. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 25, 2024 shows a grassland earless dragon lizard at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve located on the outskirts of the Australian capital city of Canberra. (AFP)
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Australia Battles to Save Last 11 Wild ‘Earless Dragons’ 

This picture taken on March 25, 2024 shows a grassland earless dragon lizard at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve located on the outskirts of the Australian capital city of Canberra. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 25, 2024 shows a grassland earless dragon lizard at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve located on the outskirts of the Australian capital city of Canberra. (AFP)

Australia's grassland earless dragon is no bigger than a pinkie when it emerges from its shell, but the little lizard faces an enormous challenge in the years ahead: avoiding extinction.

As recently as 2019, scientists in Canberra counted hundreds of grassland earless dragons in the wild. This year, they found 11.

In other areas of the country, the lizard has not been seen for three decades.

The earless dragon -- which is light brown and has long white stripes down its body -- measures about 15 centimeters (the size of a US$1 bill) when fully grown.

It lacks an external ear opening and functional eardrum, hence the name.

Australia has four species of earless dragons. Three are critically endangered, the highest level of risk, while the fourth is endangered.

The critically endangered dragons will likely be extinct in the next 20 years without conservation efforts.

"If we properly manage their conservation, we can bring them back," said University of Canberra Professor Bernd Gruber, who is working to do just that.

Breeding programs

Australia is home to thousands of unique animals, including 1,130 species of reptiles that are found nowhere else in the world.

Climate change, invasive plants and animals, and habitat destruction -- such as the 2019 bushfires, which burned more than 19 million hectares (46 million acres) -- have pushed Australia's native species to the brink.

In the past 300 years, about 100 of Australia's unique flora and fauna species have been wiped off the planet.

To save the earless dragons there are several breeding programs under way across Australia, including a bio-secure facility in Canberra's bushlands, which Gruber is overseeing.

On shelves are dozens of tanks that house the lizards -- one to each container -- with a burrow, grass and heat lamps to keep them warm.

The biggest problem is matchmaking, with the territorial female lizards preferring to choose their mates.

This means that scientists must introduce different male lizards to the female until she approves.

If that was not hard enough, scientists must also use genetic analysis to determine which lizards are compatible together and ensure genetic diversity in their offspring.

At any one time, the breeding programs around Australia can have up to 90 earless dragons, which will eventually be released back into the wild.

At the moment, Gruber is looking after more than 20 small lizards that have just hatched. Scientists almost missed the tiny eggs until three weeks ago.

"There is a sense of hope looking over them," he told AFP.

Habitat destruction

Despite the efforts of scientists, the lizards are contending with a shrinking habitat and a changing climate.

Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Peta Bulling said the lizards only live in temperate grasslands, most of which have been destroyed by urban development.

Only 0.5 percent of grasslands present at the time of European colonization still exist.

Without the lizards, Australia's alpine grasslands could look vastly different.

"We don't understand everything the grassland earless dragons do in the ecosystem, but we can make guesses they play an important role in managing invertebrate populations. They live in burrows in the soil, so they are probably aerating the soil in different ways too," she told AFP.

Bulling said that while it was important to bring the lizard back, it was also vital to protect their habitats, without which the newly saved lizards would have nowhere to live.

"They are highly specialized to live in their habitat but they will not adapt quickly to change," she said.

Last year, scientists rediscovered a small number of another kind of earless dragons after 50 years in an area that is being kept secret for conservation reasons.

Resources are being poured into understanding just how big that population is and what can be done to protect it.



SHAMS Engages Community with New Coral Initiative for Red Sea Protection

SHAMS Engages Community with New Coral Initiative for Red Sea Protection
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SHAMS Engages Community with New Coral Initiative for Red Sea Protection

SHAMS Engages Community with New Coral Initiative for Red Sea Protection

The General Organization for the Conservation of Coral Reefs and Turtles in the Red Sea (SHAMS) is set to launch a new environmental initiative titled “Adopt a Coral” this Saturday. The initiative aims to involve community members in the restoration of coral reefs and raise awareness of the importance of their sustainability as part of national efforts to protect the Kingdom’s marine environment.

This initiative aligns with SHAMS’ goals of enhancing community partnership and increasing public involvement in marine conservation. It also supports Saudi Vision 2030’s sustainability objectives and complements national programs such as the Saudi Green Initiative, which aims to reduce ecosystem degradation and preserve biodiversity, SPA reported.

SHAMS emphasized that the initiative is the result of years of field experience in coral reef restoration. The organization has demonstrated its capabilities in accurately identifying degraded reef areas using scientific indicators, developing innovative restoration techniques, and implementing long-term monitoring programs to assess ecological recovery.

The “Adopt a Coral” initiative offers various opportunities for public participation, including hands-on involvement in coral planting following specialized field training, attending awareness workshops and events that highlight threats to coral reefs such as climate change and marine pollution.

These opportunities empower the diving community to engage in reef monitoring and environmental advocacy, and foster a shared sense of responsibility by enabling individuals and groups to “adopt” coral as a symbol of ongoing environmental commitment.

The first phase of the initiative will be carried out at a designated coral reef site along the Red Sea coast, with participation from volunteers, divers, and environmental enthusiasts. SHAMS plans to expand the initiative in future phases to ensure long-term ecological impact and sustainable community engagement.

Coral reefs in the Red Sea are a vital artery for marine ecosystems, a rich source of biodiversity, and a key driver of economic and eco-tourism activity. In response to growing environmental challenges, the initiative emerges as a forward-thinking model of community engagement in the restoration of sensitive ecosystems. Through this program, SHAMS seeks to redefine environmental protection by directly connecting the public with the stewardship of this valuable natural resource.