Eulamprus heatwolei

Yellow-bellied Water Skink at Cotter River, ACT

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Identification history

	Eulamprus heatwolei	25 Nov 2017	MichaelMulvaney
	Unidentified	25 Nov 2017	Christine

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User's notes

I assume these are Yellow bellied Water Skinks. Not sure if this behaviour may count as a breeding behaviour?? One was biting the leg of the other, which turned and bit at the first ones head. There was a struggle, and they separated, but again the first one grabbed the hind leg of the one which was trying to run away. Again the second one turned and grabbed the first ones head with its mouth. Eventually they separated again, and ran past me into the thicker grass. Third pic is the first skink which was running a bit more slowly than the other.

1 comment

WillO wrote:

26 Nov 2017

Yes, you are correct, these are E. heatwolei. This species is very territorial and each suitable basking and foraging area usually has a dominant male who will fight quite aggressively with competing (or subordinate) males who come too close. You were lucky to be able to creep and get these good photographs. WillO

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Location information

Sighting information

2 Abundance
24 Nov 2017 12:00 AM Recorded on
Christine Recorded by
Collections
Reptiles and Frogs Skinks

Species information

Eulamprus heatwolei Scientific name
Yellow-bellied Water Skink Common name
Not Sensitive
Local native
Non-invasive or negligible
Up to 1619.1m Recorded at altitude
382 images trained Machine learning

Record quality

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More than one media file
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Nearby sighting(s) of same species
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