The Cryptoblepharus egeriae, more commonly known as the Christmas Island Blue-Tailed Skink, once inhabited Christmas Island. The Christmas Island Blue-Tailed Skink was discovered in 1886. In 2002 scientists with the Christmas Island National Parks discovered that the yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes ) was becoming a threat to the Christmas Island Blue-Tailed Skink. Since their introduction in 1980 the yellow crazy ants had started to massively disrupt the biodiversity on Christmas Island. This discovery put the Christmas Island Blue-Tailed Skink on the endangered animals list in 2006. By 2009 Taronga Zoo decided to start an active breeding program in hopes of being able to release some of the skinks back into the wild. However, by 2010 the Christmas Island Blue-Tailed Skink was extinct in the wild.
The specific name, egeriae, is in honor of HMS Egeria.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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starts withThe Christmas island blue-tailed skink typically grows to be 4-5cm in length. It can be identified by its small black body with two yellow strips running vertically down the skinks back and into its vibrant blue tail. The skink can use its blue tail to draw a predator’s attention away from its body by separating its tail from its body. The bright colour of the skinks tail means predators are much more likely to notice the tail than the skinks black body.
The Christmas Island blue-tailed skink is endemic to Christmas Island. Until the late 90s the skink could be found over the whole of Christmas Island. The skinks population distribution became more sparse once the crazy yellow ants were introduced, leading to a decline in the Christmas Island blue-tailed skinks population.
In 2009 Taronga Conservation Society began conservation efforts to save the skink. This led to 300 of the Christmas Island Blue-Tailed Skinks being introduced to a small island called Pulu Blan in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
The Christmas Island blue-tailed skink is a forager known as an insectivore. Their diet primarily consists of crickets, beetles, flies, grasshoppers, spiders, and earthworms however they will occasionally eat some vegetation, though insects remain their primary source of food. Because of its small size the blue-tailed skink forages for it’s food on the ground and over exposed rocks and low-laying vegetation, and will generally only eat prey that are slower moving.
For the Christmas Island blue-tailed skink, their first breeding season occurs when they are approximately one year old. The Christmas Island blue-tailed skink typically lives for seven years in the wild, six of which are active breeding years. The male Christmas Island blue-tailed skink will demonstrate courtship behaviour when trying to find a mate. The female Christmas Island blue-tailed skink will emit biochemicals for the males to smell, letting them know that the female is in her fertile stage of reproduction. Male Christmas Island blue-tailed skinks will often fight each other to win a female mate during breeding season. These skinks are polygamous which increases their chance of having offspring. One the female Christmas Island blue-tailed skink has been fertilised they will lay two eggs with a 75-day incubation period.
The Christmas island blue-tailed skink is now extinct in the wild however Taronga Zoo currently has an active breeding program hosted by Taronga Conservation Society, in hopes of being able to release some of the skinks back into their native habitat. The breeding program has been running for over a decade. Since the Taronga Conservation Society conservation efforts began 150 Christmas Island blue-tailed skinks have been released back onto Christmas Island and 300 skinks were transported to Pulu Blan. These skinks were successfully bred in captivity by Taronga Conservation after Christmas Island national parks rangers were able to successfully save 66 skinks before their population was wiped out.
The threat of extinction is largely attributed to the yellow crazy ants that were unintentionally brought to Christmas Island in 1980. Yellow crazy ants had a large growth in their population which coincided with the decline of the Christmas Island blue-tailed skink as well as the decline of much of the biodiversity on Christmas Island.
