Description: Its heavy body is armoured with shingle-like scales (brown to cream) and its head is triangular in shape. Its tongue is bright blue inside a pink mouth which it gapes wide while hissing to deter predators. Its jaws crush powerfully if the predator persists. Characterised by its wide, short tail which contains fat reserves that the lizard can call on during the cold-season brumation to replace water. It is a comparatively gentle lizard unless defending itself or its territory.

Diet: Omnivorous. Snails, insects, carrion, flowers, vegetation, eggs, fruits. They will try for anything that moves more slowly than they do. Forage methodically, using keen sense of smell.

In the Wild: This lizard is most commonly seen basking on roadsides, rocks or paving. To support its needs, it defends a territory around 4ha and can move half a kilometre in a day. To survive hot dry summers, shinglebacks will share family member’s burrow rather than make the long trek back to its own burrow. While they happily tolerate family members, males will defend against unfamiliar males. Wild individuals live around 10 – 15 years but protected ones can reach 50 years of age. Shinglebacks give birth to live young as large as 10cm (25% of the mother’s weight). This means birthing is taxing for the mothers but large size offers the young the best chance of survival. They stay close to their parents for a few months before moving to the edge of the family territory and starting their own.

Threats: Introduced feral foxes and cats pose the greatest threat. Native birds-of-prey, snakes and dingos predate on this slow-moving lizard. Because of its lack of pace and basking habit, this species is often killed on the road in urban and rural areas.