Back from extinction, now on the brink. The fight to save Victoria’s most imperilled reptile

Until a few years ago, the Victorian grassland earless dragon (Tympanocryptis pinguicolla) had not been seen for almost 60 years, raising fears that it was potentially extinct. In January 2023, a single wild population was rediscovered during a pre-development survey.

Although some of the animals were taken to establish a captive breeding population at Melbourne Zoo, the single confirmed wild location remains incredibly important to the species' long-term survival and can teach us a lot about the conditions that the species needs to persist.

Alarmingly, the site is still earmarked for development in Melbourne’s western growth corridor. While new housing is needed, the dragon can still be protected if immediate action is taken. It is vital that the Victorian and Australian Governments step up to secure the site.

Peter Robertson, a reptile ecologist and member of the Victorian Grassland Earless Dragon Recovery Team, introduces us to this small but remarkable reptile and outlines the steps to securing the last known wild population.

“This little dragon is perhaps the last remnant of a population that was distributed over the volcanic plains between Melbourne and Geelong,” said Peter Robertson.

“It's a very small lizard. Only about the size of your palm and quite well camouflaged, so it fits in very well in the grassland environment.

“They're quite social. So, when they're in the field, they wave at each other with their front limbs. We don't really know what a lot of those hand signals mean, but there's certainly communication between the dragons at a distance using that hand waving. It's quite cute to see them doing that.

“It's only known from this one small population on private land west of Melbourne. Much of the surrounding, what was formerly habitat, is now being developed for residential development.

“If the Australian and Victorian governments don't get together to acquire this site for the conservation of the dragon, there's every likelihood that it will go extinct in the near future."

Mr Robertson, one of the leading experts fighting for the protection of the imperilled dragon, outlined the key steps to secure the last remaining wild population.

“The current owners of the property can't continue to undertake the management they have for the last 60 years to ensure that the dragon can persist. So, the options would be to buy the property, put it into public ownership as a reserve and have it managed by some organisation that has experience in conservation management that uses stock grazing to maintain the appropriate structure of the habitat.

“We believe very little of the right sort of habitat is left for the dragons. There's every likelihood that the species won't be found anywhere else. So it's imperative that the one site where it now occurs can be conserved.

“Surveys should continue prior to any development to make sure that we're not destroying additional sites where the species might have occurred.”