Meet the Museum: One skink, two skink, big skink, blue skink

ABOUT THE EVENT

What do we know about Australia's most diverse reptile group? Where did they come from, what did they eat, and what might they have looked like? 

WA Museum's Collections Manager for Herpetology, Kailah Thorn, knows a thing or two about reptiles.

Fossils from across the country can help us answer big questions, and even reveal spiky surprises — like a bobtail lizard as long as your arm, weighing 1,000 times more than a garden skink, and covered in spiked, armoured plating!

Specialising in Australian reptile fossils that are less than 66 million years old (from the Cenozoic), Kailah has described Australia’s oldest skink (Proegernia mikebulli), deciphered when the first true bluetongue lizard evolved, and assembled the largest skink on earth - Tiliqua frangens. And now, she’s crawling through Western Australian caves for recently extinct reptiles. 

Come and hear more about her fascinating work and scale up your reptile knowledge!