1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff. 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here looking for a reptile to keep as 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: a pet whose heart is as true blue as its tongue. 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,119 Speaker 1: You may need to look no further than the aptly 5 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: named blue tongued skink. Certain subspecies of blue tongued skinks 6 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: are intelligent and personable critters that may even enjoy limited 7 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: interaction with humans in the wild. Blue tongued skinks are 8 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: found in the warm sandy areas and grassy savannah like 9 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: regions of Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia. They'll often dig 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: a burrow with their snouts or legs, or find an 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: abandoned one to live in. They look very much like 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:48,239 Speaker 1: snakes with stubby legs, which they used their advantage for 13 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:50,520 Speaker 1: the article. This episode is based on How Stuff Works, 14 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: spoke Norris and Nagelae, an educator at the Elmwood Park 15 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: Zoo in Norristown, Pennsylvania. As she explained, skinks are a 16 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: fairly harmless animal. They aren't poisonous, they don't have big teeth, 17 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: they can't constrict their food or anything. So when there 18 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,960 Speaker 1: are predators like hawks around, one of their biggest defenses 19 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: is to pretend to be something a little scarier. In 20 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: their case, it's a snake. The skink has a type 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: of light sensing organ called a parietal eye on the 22 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,959 Speaker 1: top of its head that can detect when a shadow 23 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: passes over, thus sensing a predator flying by. Nagelaei said, 24 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: the skink will actually tuck their tiny legs under their body. 25 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: They will actively slither around, very similar to a snake. 26 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: They're going to stick their tongue out and try to 27 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: slither their way away from predators. The skinks also have 28 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: the ability to lose their tails and regrow them. These guys, 29 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: for sure have quite a few defenses against predators, and 30 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 1: that actually includes their eponymous blue tongue. In nature, vivit 31 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: colors often means something is highly toxic. Think jewel toned 32 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: poisonous tree frogs, bright banded venomous snakes, or the red 33 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: caps on some poisonous mushrooms. The phenomenon is called apissematism. 34 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: It's basically a warning sign to potential predators. Don't even 35 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: try it, I'm not worth the effort. The blue tongued 36 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:14,119 Speaker 1: skink employs the same technique, though it's an ecological fake out. 37 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: That vibrant blue tongue looks gnarly, but these guys are 38 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: not toxic. Blue tongued skinks can grow to between twelve 39 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: and twenty four inches long that's thirty to sixty centimeters, 40 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: about half of which can be tail. They have wide, 41 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: flat heads and thick bodies, often patterned in silver, yellow, brown, 42 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 1: or black in contrasting bands or irregular sections. That blue 43 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: tongue is wide and sort of bluntly triangular like their heads. 44 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: It's nearly impossible to tell the difference between a male 45 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: and female because their reproductive organs are internal, though you 46 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: can get a blood test to determine the sex. Speaking 47 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: of reproduction, blue tongued skinks are ovoviviparous, which means the 48 00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:59,919 Speaker 1: eggs are carried and hatched inside the female, which then 49 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: birth's live offspring, usually ten to fifteen youngsters at once. 50 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: Nagola said, we think it's all about energy saving. Laying 51 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,359 Speaker 1: eggs takes a toll on the animal's body. It's biologically 52 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: expensive because they need to eat a lot of nutrients. 53 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: When an animal is ovo viviparous, they retain the eggs 54 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: and reabsorb a lot of the nutrients after they give birth. 55 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: It eliminates a lot of the waste. It's an efficient 56 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: way to give birth to their offspring. Skinks also give 57 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: the illusion of looking slimy because of their sleek scales, 58 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: but they're far from it. Nagolay said, whenever I'm talking 59 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: about skinks to children, I always have children feel their 60 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: fingernails because skinks scales feel exactly like your fingernails do, 61 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: and that's because they're made out of the same stuff 62 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: keratin a blue tongue. Skinks are omnivores, meaning they eat 63 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: a little bit of everything, veggies and meat. Nagolay said, 64 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 1: for our skinks here at the zoo, they get a 65 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: big salad and we feed them lots of insects at crickets, 66 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: and the insects are often and dusted with supplements and 67 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: vitamins to make sure that they're getting all the extra 68 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: nutrients they need. We also feed them something called a reptilolink. 69 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: It's kind of a mix of veggies and meat for 70 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: them and looks like a little sausage. Our skink really 71 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: loves them. The blue tung skink at the Elmwood Park 72 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: Zoo is named Sydney, and he's estimated to be seventeen 73 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: years old. In captivity, blue tongued skinks will often live 74 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: up to twenty years or longer. Sydney is one of 75 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: the animals in the zoo's educational collection, meeting the public 76 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: as one of the Ambassador animals, Nagela said, Sydney does 77 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: lots of programming. He goes out to meet lots of 78 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: children and adults of all ages. We do educational programming 79 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: and we talk a lot about pet care and doing 80 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: research about their habitat and things like that. On that note, 81 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: although blue tong skinks can make great pets, they're probably 82 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 1: not a good choice for first time pet owner. Nagolie explained, 83 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: you have to pay attention to their lighting and heating requirements. 84 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,359 Speaker 1: If blue tunged skinks don't get the appropriate kelci and 85 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: appropriate lighting which helps them metabolize the calcium, they can 86 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: develop metabolic bone disease. They really need UV lighting to 87 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: help them turn calcium into something usable to stay strong, 88 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: or they can develop calcium deformities and disease. Also, because 89 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: they grow to two feet long or half a meter, 90 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: they really need to be kept in a very large terrarium. 91 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: But she also said that temperamentally speaking, a blue tongue 92 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: skinks are jolly good fellows. Quote. Sidney really loves to 93 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: explore new places, he loves to hunt for his crickets, 94 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: and although I wouldn't necessarily call it affectionate, you can 95 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: build a relationship with reptiles, which I think a lot 96 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:41,359 Speaker 1: of people don't think of. When you think of scaly creatures, 97 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: you know, your first thought is an, oh, we can 98 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: be friends and hang out. But they definitely have their 99 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: own unique personalities and even though some of them may 100 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: not be the cuddliest, they might not curl up with you, 101 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: although some definitely do. They're a real joy to work with. 102 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: You can really tell that they have a certain intelligence 103 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: to them. According to most experts, the best species to 104 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: keep as a pet is the northern blue tongued skink. 105 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:07,600 Speaker 1: The cost of a healthy one should run between one 106 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty and two hundred and fifty dollars, though 107 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: that's just the animal itself. Other things you'd need include 108 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 1: a sixty gallon aquarium tank, a heating and lighting element, 109 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: and material for the skink to burrow into. Today's episode 110 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: is based on the article The Blue tongue Skink has 111 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: a heart of Gold on how stuffworks dot Com, written 112 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: by Patti Resmusen. Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership 113 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,159 Speaker 1: with how stuffworks. Dot Com is produced by Tyler Klang. 114 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 115 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.