G'day, it's Mel
and we're back with another endangered species breeding program episode for you.
Now it’s no secret that we love our reptiles here at Australia Zoo.
So I thought we’d catch up with some of our scaly and slithery friends
Let’s go ’ssssee’ who we can find.
[Mel] Laura, who've you got here?
This right here is Tsu’tey, one of our beautiful woma pythons.
[Mel] He is beautiful.
I love woma pythons so much.
But can you tell me your favourite thing about them?
[Laura] So even though these guys are not venomous - they are a python -
they can actually consume venomous snakes, some of Australia's deadliest snakes,
and they can even survive getting bitten by them as well.
[Mel] That is absolutely incredible.
Now I think we've had a little bit of success
breeding woma pythons here at Australia Zoo.
We definitely have.
So this guy was actually born here at the zoo in 2003.
We've had these guys hatch in 2006, 2019 and 2020.
So a lot of womas born at the zoo, which is just incredible.
[Mel] So can you tell me why it is so important
to have this endangered species breeding program here?
[Laura] Yeah, of course.
So these guys are found throughout Australia, but there's a particular
population on the Brigalow Belt that are facing a whole lot
of habitat destruction, so they're pretty much losing their homes.
That is really sad.
But we do have a conservation property in that area, don't we?
We do, out in St George.
So back in the day Steve had a hunch that woma pythons would be found
in this particular area.
Steve and Terri, they purchased that land and of course
it turned out to be a stronghold for woma pythons.
So now that is our Mourachan property, our conservation property,
which is a stronghold and a safe haven for a multitude of animals.
[Mel] That's pretty incredible.
Well, thank you so much for what you're doing for this gorgeous snake.
And we hope to see you again soon.
- Awesome see you later. - Thanks Laura.
[Mel] Eugene, g'day -
[Eugene] Hello. - who have you brought along with you today?
Well, Mel, this is one of our shinglebacks.
Her name is Little Girl.
And -
- we also have her two little babies.
Would you mind holding them for us?
[Mel] Oh, of course it would be my pleasure.
Eugene, I love shingleback lizards.
Can you tell me maybe your favourite thing about them?
Absolutely. They are incredible partners.
They will find a partner in the wild and they will stick to that one for life.
They are monogamous, so that is incredible.
They'll live easily for 20 years and they'll come back
to the same partner year after year for the breeding season.
Is that not amazing?
[Mel] That is so romantic. How adorable.
And their breeding process is pretty cool as well?
Yeah, absolutely -
- so they'll get pregnant in spring,
they'll have a 3 to 5 month pregnancy and then they'll give birth.
They are about a third of their body size.
They are huge.
[Mel] Yeah so I've been told it's the equivalent of a human giving birth
to a baby the size of an eight year old child.
It is, it is. Imagine that, they are absolutely huge.
And this is why they look so big already, even though these two twins,
they were only born in February here at the zoo.
So they are only a few months old and they already almost as big as mum.
[Mel] Yeah. And what are some of the problems these guys are facing in the wild?
Here in Australia,
there’s two main things that we are a little bit concerned about.
They get killed on the roads a lot.
And if the male or the female gets run over by a car,
the other one will mourn and will stay next to the body
until he passes away. So that's a big threat.
The other one is the international pet trade, which is still big today.
They get taken from the wild illegally and exported overseas.
[Mel] Yeah, that's tragic.
But I suppose that's why it is so important
to have these breeding programs here at the zoo.
[Eugene] One day, hopefully these little guys will be able
to maybe go to another facility and help educate people around Australia.
[Mel] Oh, that's so incredible.
Well Eugene, thank you for all the work you do
with our reptiles big and small. And we hope we'll see you again soon.
[Eugene] Thank you Mel. [Mel] Thanks. See you guys.
[Mel] We've shown you a little bit of our historical success with our reptile breeding,
but now we want to give you a glimpse into the future.
So come right this way.
[Mel] Brandon, g'day mate. [Brandon] How you going?
Yeah we're pretty good.
- Who have you got here? - This is Indah,
which is Indonesian for beautiful.
And that's exactly what she is. She's gorgeous.
[Mel] Now I'm actually pretty excited
because I've never met our Komodo dragons before.
So can you tell me a little bit about her?
- Oh, give her a pat to start with. - Oh, thank you.
So Komodo dragons are found up in Southeast Asia,
what we call the lesser Sunda Islands.
So they've got a very isolated range with only about 5000 lizards
and now are a endangered species as of last year.
[Mel] Oh, that's pretty sad.
Now you're actually working on something pretty cool right now, though?
[Brandon] Yes, we're working on a Komodo dragon breeding program
and Indah is our shining light for the future of her species,
and she doesn't even know it, here in Australia.
So we actually really are keen to breed our komodos here.
We've got the best set up for it and have been trying over the past
previous 4 to 5 years. This season has just finished
and it has been the closest we've ever come to breeding.
Ragnar, our young male Komodo,
he's very new to it.
So this season is all about teaching him what to do
and him figuring it out for himself.
Next season, I think we'll be in luck with those two.
[Mel] Now, why is this so important though for us to be focusing on here?
It's massive- not so much for Komodo population in the wild.
More a back up population in captivity, in case something happens to them.
Similar to what happened to Tassie devils in Tasmania.
More so climate change and natural disasters
is really going to impact these animals.
[Mel] Well hopefully when we check in with you
next time, we'll have the pitter patter of little dragon feet.
[Brandon] Oh! No one would be more excited than me.
We're obsessed with our komodos. We absolutely love them.
So it's- it's huge for us.
Hopefully, we uh- we’ll tell you straight away
if we've got ‘em. Won't we Indah?
[Mel] Well I can see how happy she is.
Thank you for all the work you're doing, Giffo, and we'll hopefully have some news soon.
[Brandon] Oh, no worries at all. Thanks, mate.
See you later.
We hope you've enjoyed meeting a couple of our reptile friends today.
Now, Steve always said save one, save the species.
We truly believe that one animal, even one person, can make a difference.
So thank you so much for tuning in
and taking a look at our breeding program episodes.
Make sure you look out for more episodes soon so you can meet a couple
more of our animal friends here at Australia Zoo.