Iramoo is the home of the Striped Legless Lizard.

What's a Striped Legless Lizard?
Its scientific name is Delma impar. It's common name is the Striped LeglessLizard. It belongs to the familiy of "flap-footed" lizards called the Pygopodidae. This family of lizards only occurs in Australia. There are about 38 species, with only two of these occurring outside Australia in nearby Papua New Guinea.

Why is it a lizard and not a snake?
Pygopodids are most closely related to the gecko family, meaning that legless lizards have evolved from animals that look like geckos, rather than snakes.
Some features that distinguish legless lizards from snakes are:

• the presence of ear holes. Not all legless lizards have ear holes but there are no snakes that do have ear holes
• a round fleshy tongue. We all know that snakes have a forked tongue!
• the presence of limb flaps (hence flap-footed lizards).These are all that are left of the hind limbs(we refer to them as rudimentary or vestigial limbs). There is no external evidence of the forelimbs.
• the ability to vocalise. Legless lizards squeak when excited or upset, similar to the noise made by geckos. Snakes do not have vocal abilities, although they are able to hiss (which is not vocalisation)
• there are a range of other anatomical and behavioural traits that place Pygopodids in with lizards, rather than snakes, but the evolutionary pathway is most important.

InVictoria, the legless lizards are the only reptiles resembling snakes that have stripes running the length of their bodies - all the stripey snakes in Victoria have stripes running across theirbodies.

Does this Lizard drop it's tail?
They drop their tails if a predator (or human) has hold of the tail. The tail can regrow but very slowly and never from the same breakage point - it is always closer to the body next time. It is important that they do not drop their tails, as this can affect mobility. They also store alot of fat in their tails which they use for energy throughout the winter (and during periods when food resources are low - eg drought). Without this 'food store' in their tails they might not get through winter! They are said to autotomise their tails when they drop their tails.

Where does it live?
Only in south eastern Australia(nowhere else in the world) and predominantly in the native grasslands stretching from Canberra down through Melbourne and across to theSouth Australian border.

What does it eat?
Black field crickets, caterpillars, cockroaches (not the big ugly ones that we get in our houses but small black ones that live under rocks in paddocks) and spiders (wolf spiders and jumping spiders).

Whateats it?
Snakes(documented) and presumably birds of prey and probably cats and foxes. Some of our very small nativemammals may have also snacked on them (when we had small native mammals in our grasslands), however legless lizards would not have been a staple of the diet of these mammals (eg bandicoots and dunnarts).

Does it get around in the day or night?
Day time. Wesay it is a'dirunal' species.

Does it roam in packs, or is it a lone wanderer?
They tend to live in very localised areas. An individual probably does not movemuch more than 10 or 15 metres (except perhaps when they really have to - eg fire, finding a mate etc). They seemto occur in high densities but whether or not there is any sort of organisation to this is difficult to know. There is no evidence of territoriality. Interestingly, when the females lay eggs they tend to nest communally. That is severalfemales will lay their eggs in the same nest. Up to 25 eggs have been recorded in the one nest.

How would I find one?
It is very difficult to find them as they are very shy animals and have very good camouflage. They spend alot of time underground or in amongst grass tussocks. The striped legless lizard is a threatened species, so it is best to leave them where they are and try not to disturb them too much. If you do see one, remember to leave its habitat the way that you found it - don't wreck their homes. It's also not a great idea to try to find them for safety reasons (misidentification with snakes or coming across snakes, spiders and other bitey things in the process).

Is it endangered?
Yes, striped legless lizards are a threatened species. Their conservation status is recognised internationally and also at the commonwealth level and in the jurisdictions of the south-eastern states.
Major threats include housing development (having your home turned into bitumen and concrete probably is not that pleasant an experience), grazing, predators (foxes & cats) and fires.

How big is it?
They can grow up to 30cm long (about the size of a ruler) but are only as skinny as a thick pencil. The young are only about 10cm long and a bit worm-like.

How is it born?
Young hatch out of eggs in February. Females lay only two eggs in a soil cavity or crack in December. It is not known whether they lay eggs every year or how old the animals need to be before they can start breeding.

Some other interesting facts about the Striped Legless Lizard.

• They have beautiful yellow faces.
• Not all of them have prominent stripes.
• They do a death roll to kill their prey.
• They can eat their prey whole.
• Each individual has a unique arrangement of scales on its head, so researches are able to identify each one (like finger prints that police use for finding criminals).
• They shed their skin like snakes (including the clear scale that covers the eye).
• They live to perhaps 20 years(at least over 10 years).
• They are very strong and muscular
• Like snakes and other reptiles striped legless lizards are not warm-blooded. Therefore they tend to become inactive over winter. They seem to become less active in mid-March and get going again at the very start of spring.