Reptile mating photo may be a first......

Back in February we were sat on our deck enjoying the summer in Vava'u, when 2 very large lizards ran across our deck and started mating. They were approximately 25cm in length.

We had not seen this species here before, and so we sent off the photos to the Australia Museum of Herpetology. With no immediate reply we put our minds back to diving and continued to see these lizards every now and then.

Just recently I received an email from the Museum saying

"The skink is Emoia trossula. While known from Fiji and Rarotonga, our research scientists have told us that there have been no published accounts of mating in this species. "

So here is my mating photo and a couple of others....... pretty cool for just a snap shot.....

All images copyright karen varndell 2009