Giant/Indonesian Blue-tongued Skink Tiliqua gigas

Skinks are glossier than lizards and have tiny legs and feet. There are 6 species of Blue-tongued Skink, all native to Australia except the Giant Blue-tongued here which is native to the island of New Guinea and some other Indonesian islands off Australia. It is also called the Indonesian Blue-tongued Skink.

There are 3 subspecies of the Giant Blue-tongued classified and another claimed but unclassified: the Irian Jaya subspecies which looks similar to the nominal Eastern Blue-tongued from Australia with its light background and legs and handsome gold-coloured bands. Those shown here are all the nominal subspecies.

The juvenile (above left) has a silvery grey background with black bands, developing to an olive green with black bands as it matures (above right). It has shiny black legs, sometimes with some white markings. The Indonesian or Giant Blue-tongued males reach some 60 cm of which about half is tail (the same size as most Australian mainland species except the Pygmy).

In certain light, the olive background can look yellow or even shiny gold (above), with gold bars below.