When we were driving on the road to the Daydream mine the other day the Man pulled over for yet another photo opportunity only for me to almost grab the steering wheel and steer us back into the road.
missed by a nose!
We had pulled over right where a Stumpy Tail lizard was sunning itself, and nearly ran over its head.
They love heat of the roads and are often seen warming up on the sides. Unfortunately they are often seen squashed as well as they are not expecting a car to come zooming along.
This one was lucky that he stayed still as the tyre tracks from our car ran right in front of his nose! I got out to apologize, and take a picture and, unsurprisingly, I got a bad reception.
He put on a good show, standing up tall, well, as tall as a Stumpy Tail can be, hissing and showing his blue tongue and the kids were delighted. They are lovely lizards, this one was just a little more annoyed than the ones we usually see around, for good reason I guess!
(If anyone out there can supply a link to an actual photo of the teeth of one of these guys I would be most grateful. I think that there is a chance they have no teeth/ invisible teeth as my internet trawls have failed to find any views of them whatsoever!)
look how scary I am…. hisssssss……
Buried words and Bushwa. 
Is that a blue tongue?
You would think so, wouldn’t you! No, a Blue Tongue and a Stumpy Tail are similar in size but a Blue Tongue is smooth like a snake, and has a pointed tail, whereas a Stumpy Tail has really rough skin and a tail shaped like its head. Their tongues are very similar though, I guess the person who originally named the Blue Tongue got a bit over-excited!
What a fantastic pic! I have never ever seen exactly what a stumpy’s tongue looked like! You should enter it somewhere. Really phenomenal shot. 🙂
Thank you so much! I was really happy with it 🙂
It is a pity that it doesn’t have the sound to go along with it. Just imagine the worst vibes ever and extremely angry hissing! Usually they just walk off angrily, this one clearly had a point to prove 🙂
-giggles- As you would after such a ‘close shave’. 😀
Actually, once the Man stopped I was hesitant to get out of the car in case we had clipped him. I was very glad to see him so vocal and not half squished!
Poor little guy must have been in shock for a minute and then you wanted to take his photo without even any makeup. 😉
Amazing picture. He’s a little MONSTER — that’s for sure.
They are such lovely lizards too, they are the ones passed around to kids at a reptile show. This one though, clearly took offence at the smelly, noisy, car invading his space. I think the only way he could have been more monstery was if he had big fangs to go with the blue tongue! 🙂
I LOVE this photo! Gosh, he does look annoyed. And I love the other picture too, as it gives a sense of scale. Stumpy lizards are huge!
Okay, how close did you get?
Close enough that he could have given me a bite if he wanted to! They don’t have teeth as such but if one grabs you with that hard bony mouth you won’t be happy about it! They aren’t overly fast, but will lunge at you and give you a bit of a scare.
Actually, they would rather be left alone than engage with the enemy so they are mostly grumpy show, although this one did not want to back down so I left him in peace to believe he had won the battle. 🙂
I am struck by the words “bony mouth.” WOW.
My grandfather, when confronted with most predators/stinging insects/reptiles, would say, “Oh, it’s more scared of you than you are of it.”
As a child, I didn’t believe it. As an adult, I believe it, but it doesn’t stop me from jumping when I see stinging and/or biting things. : D
I have spent the last 20 minutes looking really hard for a Stumpytail/Shingleback skull or teeth on the internet as after reading your comment I thought I had better know what I was talking about!
Apparently they have what the Australian Museum refers to as ‘large teeth’ but I might be more accurate describing them as invisible teeth. I could find no pictures of them anywhere although I found plenty of photos similar to mine with open gapes. Neither could I find drawings or pictures of a skull with teeth no matter where I looked. I expected that they had a mouth like our (late 😦 ) turtle had, with bony plates for crushing.
Until I find an appropriate picture I will still believe that they are devoid of real teeth but I am not sticking my finger in the mouth of the next one I find to check, ok! 😉
I’m with you, my brain knows that things will mostly run for their lives when a human approaches but my reflexes either stomp or run of their own accord when they see scuttling legs 😀
Woof! I see a story just on Stumpytail lizards in the near future. You’ve done an exquisite amount of research.
I always forget that some lizards don’t have teeth as such. Not sure why I forget. It’s not like big ol’ bullfrogs are toothy, you know?
I am barely convinced that they have teeth. We often see the remains of these lizards when we are away, and before I did this post I had seen a few on the side of tracks. Of course once I was actually wanting to see one there were none to be found!
Next time I see one I will endeavour to find any toothy remains. Although I am not sure that you want a post featuring a picture of a dead lizard. Maybe I can find a volunteer to get bitten so I can get a pic of the bloody holes in a finger to prove the existence of teeth!
I looked again before I made this comment and found what appeared to be a photo of a jaw bone with small rounded teeth in it but the link wouldn’t work…. grrrrrr….
I have just updated this post with a request for teeth pictures just in case there is someone out there who actually knows what they are talking about!
I can’t wait!
Catching up on my blog reading and ‘An Angry Lizard’ got my attention. What a great title for a post – I love the exotic wildlife that you come across. He looks so cross! More posts about grumpy lizards please 😛
Thanks 🙂 He certainly was cross! I will do my best to find more angry wildlife for you, although I might have to take the photo over my shoulder as I run away! 🙂
This great, up close and personal with a p!ssed off lizard… unhappy that you’d just missed him and now wanted to add insult to non-injury and disturb him further despite everything being fine 😉
It was funny to see him so mad. Normally they just stomp off grumpily into the the bushes but this one was ready for a fight. I was waiting for him to try to take a bite out of my camera!
Actually he was so active and vocal that when another car came past almost as soon as we stopped I quickly got between him and the road in the hopes that he would go backwards away from me and not dash off into the path of that car and imminent death. I shouldn’t have bothered, he was going to stand his ground no matter what. I click clicked, then apologized and left him in peace 🙂