Publications
Egernia kintorei
Threatened Species Day Fact Sheet
Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2004
Tjakura (Pitjantjatjara /Ngaanyatjarra)
Warrarna (Warlpiri)
Mulyamiji (Mantilyitjara)
Commonwealth: Vulnerable ( Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999)
NT: Vulnerable ( Territory Parks and Wildlife Act 2000 )
WA: Vulnerable ( Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 )
SA: Endangered ( National Parks & Wildlife Act 1972 )
Great Desert Skinks are very important animals for a number of Aboriginal groups in Central Australia. The lizards are known as Tjakura by Anangu people in Central Australia and are culturally important animal under Tjukurpa (Law). They were also an important food source in traditional times; there are a number of dreaming sites dedicated to the Tjakura across the Western Desert region.
Tjakura are large robust lizards that grow up to 40 cm long and have reddish-tan smooth skin, with creamy-lemony flanks and yellow belly scales. One of their Aboriginal names - Mulyamiji - means 'red nose'.
Tjakura live communally in large burrow systems (up to 10m in diameter) dug into sandy soils. Mature adult pairs usually share the burrow systems with immature lizards. Sometimes the same lizards will occupy a burrow system for several years in a row, however movement between nearby burrow systems has been regularly observed at Uluru. Young adults leave their birth burrows in their third summer, often avoiding construction of their own burrow by moving into one vacated by mulgara (a rat-sized carnivorous marsupial).
Tjakura inhabit the sandy desert regions of Central Australia. The largest populations survive in the Tanami and Great Victorian Desert regions of the Northern Territory, with smaller, fragmented populations existing in the Gibson and Great Sandy Desert regions of Western Australia, and a very small population known from the northern South Australia Anangu-Pitjantjatjara Lands. Tjakura also occur in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, where a long-term monitoring program is underway to collect data on the ecology and management needs of this threatened lizard.
Tjakura are found predominantly in spinifex ( Triodia species) grasslands on sandplain and interdune areas. Anangu traditional ecological knowledge shows that Tjakura prefer spinifex that has been burnt within the last 15 years, and animals abandon burrow systems once the structure of long unburnt spinifex becomes too open.
Tjakura feed on large numbers of termites and supplement this dietary mainstay with cockroaches, beetles, spiders, ants and the occasional small lizard or flower. Most of their burrow systems are located close to termite pans, and the lizards catch termites when they come to the surface to harvest grasses or during dispersal of winged alates.
Most foraging is done in the early evening or during the night in hotter months. Tjakura hibernate within specially constructed chambers in their burrow systems over the cooler months.
Not enough is known to confidently estimate the current population size of Tjakura because the majority of known locations occur on remote Aboriginal lands. However some important data on distribution and abundance has been gathered over recent years from Aboriginal communities around Central Australia. A recovery team made up of scientists, community groups and Aboriginal organisations was set up in 1999 to help coordinate the research and management efforts for Tjakura across South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The main threats to Tjakura are unfavourable fire regimes and predation by feral cats and foxes.
An ongoing research program at Uluru works with local Anangu to develop a fire management strategy that will benefit Tjakura populations. Each year, small patches of spinifex are burned to create a mosaic of regenerating and senescing grasses, providing a range of different food and shelter opportunities for Tjakura.
Predator baiting programs have been used around small, isolated Tjakura populations on Anangu-Pitjantjatjara Lands south of Watarru in north-western South Australia. Similar management strategies are likely to be trialed in the near future at locations within the Tanami and Gibson Deserts where significant populations of Tjakura exist.
If you are travelling through the central and western desert regions, you can assist the recovery effort for Tjakura by reporting any sign of burrow systems or lizards. Look for the distinctive latrine nearby multiple-entrance burrow systems in sandy soils. If you think you may have located a burrow system, record details of its location (preferably a GPS reading), take a photograph if you can, collect some of the scats, and record details about signs of recent digging activity, fire evidence etc. When you get back from your trip, please report this information to the TSN Coordinator for the Arid Rangelands, and it will be conveyed to the Tjakura Recovery Team.
If you are interested in doing project work for threatened species, get in touch with the Threatened Species Network to see if your organisation could apply for funding through the TSN Community Grants Program. Three Aboriginal organisations in the arid rangelands have received grant money through TSN to manage and monitor Tjakura populations.
Colleen O'Malley
Arid Rangelands Coordinator
Threatened Species Network
Ph: (08) 8952 1541
Email: rangelands@wwf.org.au
Visit: www.wwf.org.au
A recovery plan for the Great Desert Skink, prepared as part of a TSN Community Grant, was adopted in 2001 under the Australian Government's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.You can also find out more information about Australia's threatened species by calling the Department of the Environment and Heritage Community Information Unit on freecall 1800 803 772 or by visiting www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened.
This fact sheet is also available for download as a PDF file. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer to view the PDF file.