Tjakuṟa, the Great Desert Skink (Liopholis kintorei), is a threatened species found within Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. But how do you help an endangered species thrive if you don’t know where they are?
This was the problem facing rangers in Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park.
The elusive Tjakuṟa builds and maintains interconnected tunnels often under mature spinifex grasses, in which they can live for up to seven years with multiple generations participating in the construction and maintenance of burrows.
‘If we don’t take action to recover the Tjakuṟa then it could become extinct … that means it’s lost from the culture for Aboriginal people … but also lost from the rich diversity that makes up the desert region.’ – Threated Species Commissioner Dr Fiona Fraser 20 over 10 years.
Over the past few decades, the culturally significant Tjakuṟa has vanished from many of the sites they used to inhabit. Unmanaged wildfire and feral cats are largely to blame.
David Thuo, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO in Canberra, is driving the project ‘Molecules in the sand: eDNA, and the biology of the Tjakuṟa, the Great Desert Skink’. The project aims to retrieve DNA from scats and soil to study the skinks’ biology and genetics.
The initiative includes Mulyamiji March, which will track the population of Great Desert Skinks across central Australia.
The first survey took place in 2023-24 and involved local Aṉangu women.
Over time, the project should help answer some critical ecological and biological questions about the Tjakuṟa, including how many individuals occupy a burrow, how occupancy changes over time, how long Tjakuṟa live and how far they travel. This terrestrial eDNA project may also prove to be a technique which can be applied to other threatened species who survive in Australia’s arid zones.
The National Parks Conservation Trust supported the creation of the Aṉangu Women’s Tjakuṟa team through the Muṯitijulu Community.
