Western blue-tongued skink

The western blue-tongue is the boldly banded member of the genus, with broad dark bands on a pale sandy-brown body and a distinctive dark streak behind the eye. It lives in drier, sandier country than the eastern species and shelters under leaf litter or rocks at night, sometimes in old rabbit burrows.

Australia’s Tiliqua species and subspecies were listed on CITES Appendix III at Australia’s request in 2022. That listing helps track international trade in animals that may have been taken illegally from the wild.