Tales from the Tank: He comes from a land down under
There are many animals to observe outside in the Will County forest preserves, but its visitor centers are also home to a variety of species, some native and some not. Join us for our Tales from the Tank series where we will share the stories of our resident critters.
G’day mate! My name is Bluey, and I am not the blue healer on the cartoon everyone keeps asking me about. But we are from the same country! I am an original Bluey. People from Australia have been calling blue-tongued skinks like me Bluey since before that TV show, but it’s nice to share a name with such a charismatic cartoon. Other names for my kind are blue-tongued lizards or blue-tongues. My tongue seems to be the most eye-catching thing about me.
Why do I have a blue tongue? Great question. I use it to scare off predators! If a giant winged creature comes flying at me, I open my mouth to expose my blue tongue, hiss and make my body bigger. Hopefully my body threatens them enough that it gives me time to run away!
Now, we don’t eat those winged creatures for brekky, we definitely don’t make sangas out of them, and we aren’t ordering them from Maccas. Look at my teeth. What do you think I eat?
Words to know
Brekky: Australian slang for breakfast.
Aussie: Australian slang for Australian.
Sanga: Australian slang for sandwich.
Maccas: Australian slang for McDonald’s.
Bush: Australian slang for the woods.
Straya: Australian slang for Australia.
Bushwalk: Australian slang for hiking through a wild, natural or wooded area.
We skinks are omnivorous, which means we eat both plants and animals. I love fruit like berries and large plant leaves, but I also love worms, bugs, snails and other insects. A nice crunchy snack! Here at the Plum Creek Nature Center, they feed me blueberries, greens, earthworms and all kinds of delicious foods.
Blue-tongued skinks can live to be 15 years old in human care. I am an old man at 12 years old. In the wild, I would most likely only live to be about 9 years old. They take really good care of me here. This is my third home. I had a hard time getting along with others until they brought me to the nature center.
In Straya, you would be able to find me in so many environments like forests, grasslands and even by the coast! I live a quiet life here at the nature center and like to lounge mostly in my rock.
You might think I look familiar. Maybe you’ve seen me out in the bush. I live in Straya, but I do have some lizard cousins who live by you! That would be the six-lined racerunners. Next time you are out on a bushwalk and you see one of my lizard cousins, tell them I said G’day!
