Create a lizard-friendly habitat
In this activity, students have the opportunity to create a lizard-friendly habitat in the school grounds. The extension activity involves designing a suitable environment for keeping lizards in captivity.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
describe the basic survival needs of lizards
identify key components of a lizard-friendly habitat
understand threats to lizards in New Zealand and some of the possible solutions.
Fat skink, thin skink
Dr Kelly Hare, from the University of Otago, talks about her research into the captive management of lizards. Kelly’s aim is to find out which captive management options will produce the healthiest individuals for future translocations. Should skinks be kept on a diet or able to eat as much as they like? How much basking time is best?
Jargon alert: Translocation: when a number of individuals are transported to a new area to establish a new population or to help restore an existing population.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction/background notes
instructions on what you need and what to do
discussion questions
ideas for extending your students.
Useful links
Visit the Department of Conservation website to find out more about attracting lizards to your garden. It includes downloadable factsheets about gardening for lizards in the lower North Island and Canterbury.
On the Predator Free NZ Trust Make your garden safe for wildlife page, you can download an info-graphic on Creating a lizard friendly garden (PDF, 1.7 MB).
Visit the New Zealand Herpetological Society website to find out more about keeping lizards in captivity.
