A Hosmer’s spiny-tailed skink has been born at the Houston Zoo for the first time, zoo staff said. The small lizard is among several new reptiles the zoo has recently introduced.
The arrivals include baby star tortoises, five eyelash vipers and Henkel’s leaf-tailed geckos. Visitors can see them in a shared habitat in the zoo’s Reptile & Amphibian Building.
Hosmer’s spiny-tailed skinks are native to northern Australia. When threatened, they can wedge themselves into rock crevices and puff up their bodies, making them hard for predators to pull free.
The zoo said the gecko births were part of a species survival plan developed within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help manage the population. Henkel’s leaf-tailed geckos come from Madagascar.
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