Identifying Skinks

I do some of my field work up in the Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary, near Alexandra.
This is a small predator fenced area. Several grand and Otago skinks were released into this area and some of my work is searching for them to see if they are still there!

When we find a skink we have to try to get some photos of them - which is easier said than done! Ideally we would get a side-on photo of each side of the skink.

We use these photos to identify the skinks. Before the skinks were released reference photos were taken of each skink - left side and right side. We use those reference photos to see if we can identify the skinks we are seeing in the Mokomoko sanctuary. Each skink has a unique pattern around their head - kind of like our fingerprints.

When I get back to the DoC office I download the photos I have taken and see if I can identify which skink is which. I look carefully at the patterns around it's eye and along to the vent (hole on the side of it's head)

Have a go - can you tell which skink this one is? Is it A, B or C?

Skink 1

Skink A

Skink B

Skink C

How about this one? A, B or C

Skink 2

Skink A

Skink B

Skink C

Reply in a comment below - Skink 1 is:

                                              Skink 2 is:
Remember to leave me your name (first name only!) and room number so I can reply to you and put your entry into the competition!

Collaboration

Science is all about working together and with other people. For scientists to work well they need to talk to other scientists. They share the work they are doing and help each other out. If groups of scientists work together it helps them to have a better understanding of the complex problems they work on.

Here at DoC (Department of Conservation) they work closely with Landcare Research to make sure they are doing the right things for the grand and Otago skinks. The Landcare scientists share their knowledge of skinks and the DoC scientists share their knowledge of predators and the habitat to work together to make sure the skinks are safe and protected.

Scientists work with each other all over the world - they share their research and they discuss other scientists research. Scientists learn a lot from each other and they all have different ideas to bring to a project.

It's the same at school! Working with others can help you have a better understanding of the work you are doing.
Think of the times when you have worked with other people - what new ideas did you learn from them and what did they learn from you? Did you do a better job of the task because you all shared your thinking?

Have a look at this video from the Science Learning Hub talking about scientists collaborating in Antarctica.

http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/Icy-Ecosystems/Sci-Media/Video/Collaboration-in-Antarctica

What different scientists are working together? Why is it important for them to work together?

Skinks in New Zealand

The grand and Otago skinks are two of our most endangered, rare skinks in New Zealand and you probably won't see them in your backyard but we do have other skinks and these ones you will be able to see!

There are about 33 different species of skinks found in many different places around New Zealand and almost half of those species are endangered or threatened.

You can find more information about skinks (and geckos) on this page from the Science Learning Hub.

The most common native skinks you are likely to see in your garden are:
Common skink (Oligosoma polychroma)


McCann's skink (Oligosoma maccanni)


If you see these skinks and you have a cat - watch out - cats are one of the worst predators of skinks! If you can, keep your cat in at night to help protect our native skinks.

Keep your eyes peeled - the best way to spot skinks is on a warm, sunny day around rocks and tussocks - you need to be very quiet and move very slowly to see them sitting still. Try to get a photo of one when you have become a great spotter. Send me your skink photos and I'll publish them on the blog.

Science and history.

Yesterday I took a 2.5 hour drive to Macraes Flat to the DoC base there. I'm going to be working up here in a few weeks - I will be living at the base for about 6-8 weeks. Luckily they are letting Billie (my dog) live there too!

Macraes is one of the last major places that grand and Otago skinks live in the wild. DoC are working really hard to look after them and have built a predator proof fence in one area and do A LOT of predator trapping in the rest of the reserve. There are over 800 traps spread out over a very large area. All the traps have to be checked each week in the summer and every 2 weeks in the winter.

Yesterday I was helping check one trapping line - it took us 3.5 hours to get along the one line in a 4WD. The traps we checked had caught 13 hedgehogs, 5 ferrets and one feral cat.

It's really important that DoC catch all these predators - can you tell me why? See if you can answer these questions and post them in a comment.

What is a predator?

What problems will the predators at Macraes cause for the skinks?

Sometimes there are people that don't like the fact that DoC traps these predators - especially cats and hedgehogs. What do you think? Why is it important that we do trap them?

Macraes is important for another reason - there is a giant goldmine up there, but it also used to be a big gold mining place in the 1880's when the Otago gold boom was on.

In this photo you can just see a hole in the ground - it is the opening to an old mine digging.

We visited the site of an old gold-mining town. It was in the middle of nowhere and you could only reach it by a shingle road and then 4WD or walking. It was strange to think there used to be a busy wee town here - there was a pub, school, shops and all sorts of buildings but now you can only see the ruins and the flat areas where the buildings were.

 The only ruins still standing a bit.

 There was a building here - see the stones and flat areas.

 Great view!!

 Site of another old building.

 Near where the pub might have been - these are a pile of old glass bottles - the class is really thick.

Notice the flat area? Another building would have been here.

Blogs and Citizen Science

Today I have added some new things to this blog!

On the right side you will see a blog list - this is a list of other school science blogs and blogs from the other teachers doing the same science programme I am - there are some really amazing things going on all around New Zealand - check them out and ask the teachers questions about what they are learning!

Up the top of the blog you will see a tab for Citizen Science.
Citizen Science are projects all around New Zealand that you can get involved in - scienctists can't be everywhere in NZ so they like to ask us for help gathering information - basically what is in your backyard! Try some of these out!

Keep checking back on the blog because I have some exciting news coming up - involving a bit of a competition for you!

Setting up a skink habitat

Last week my job was to set up a small skink habitat for some Otago skinks we are recieving from Wellington Zoo. The skinks will only be with us a short time so it is just a simple cage setup for them to live in while they are here.

Here is how you set a temporary skink habitat up:

1) Clean out the cage! If your cage has been used before it needs to be cleared of mess from the previous tenants.

 2) Add soil for the ground base.

3) Add a variety of schist rock - the skinks use the schist to sunbathe on and to live under. It is important when putting the rock in that you make room for the skinks to go under the rocks and make sure everything is stable so they don't get squashed!

Can you tell me why it is important that the skinks can have somewhere to sunbathe?

4) Add some driftwood and plants.


5) Use old bottle lids for water and food containers - just the lids, otherwise the water will be too deep!



Now we are ready and waiting for our skinks to arrive - hopefully I get to go to the airport to pick them up!

Skinks!

Skinks? What are skinks?

Well these are skinks and these videos show you the two places I am working - Macraes Conservation Area and the Mokomoko sanctuary in Alexandra.

In particular these are the grand (Oligosoma grande) and Otago (Oligosoma otagense) skinks and they are very special - especially to Central Otago!

Grand and Otago skinks are quite rare - DoC has classified them as Nationally Critically Endangered, which means they are very rare and threatened with extinction - they have the same status as the Kakapo. They are two of New Zealand's largest and rarest lizards.


Monitoring and working with grand and Otago skinks are one of the main things I am doing on my science programme. In Alexandra there is a small sanctuary that some lizards live in. I spend some of my time looking for the lizards and photographing them.

The reason we photograph the lizards is so that we can identify which individual skink they are. Grand and Otago skinks have distinctive patterns on the side of their heads and down their body that allow us to identify who they are. Each skink has a different pattern and by comparing previous photos we can tell who is who.

The main place to find the skinks is at Macraes Conservation Area and I will be spending a week at a time living there and helping with their skink work.

Here are some interesting facts about grand and Otago skinks:

(see if you can find out what the words in BOLD mean)

                They are OMNIVORES. They eat small soft fruit, invertebrates (insects), other plant life and occasionally other small skinks.

                They live on rocky schist outcrops in tussock grasslands and can be found around Lake Hawea, Lindis Pass, Alexandra, Macraes Flat and a few other places. They are very rare so you would be very lucky to see one in the wild.

                 Cats, stoats, weasels, ferrets etc are their main predators but hedehogs are also a big problem. Hedgehogs are not only predators of the skinks but they are also competition - they eat the same things skinks do so then there is less food for the skinks.