Blue-tongued skink - Burgers' Zoo (16/06/2013)

A minute-long video taken at Burgers' Zoo showing a pale, greyish-white blue-tongued skink slowly making its way along the glass front of its rocky enclosure. The video starts with the skink lying comfortably near a warm, glowing red heat lamp. It then begins to crawl forward, moving parallel to the glass. Because blue-tongued skinks have such short legs compared to their long, thick bodies, it moves with a charmingly slow, side-to-side waddling motion that almost looks like a slither. Throughout the video, the reflections of zoo visitors can be seen in the glass, and at one point, a person wearing a red and black glove points a finger close to the glass to trace the lizard's path. The highlight comes around the 50-second mark when the skink briefly flicks out its namesake feature—a bright, vibrant blue tongue! Skinks use this striking blue tongue as a brilliant defense mechanism; when threatened, they puff up their bodies, hiss, and stick out their bright tongue to startle potential p