Goats helping to save threatened colony of skinks #krattbrothers

Goats helping to save threatened colony of skinks

– News covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added

An Australian skink
Image via The Australian Museum

From the land down under comes word from Melbourne, Australia of how goats are helping to improve the habitat for a threatened colony of White’s skinks, a member of the reptile family.

Seven goats have been tasked to clear-out out-of-control undergrowth of invasive plants blighting Melbourne’s Royal Park.

At 450 acres in size, Royal Park is the largest of Melbourne’s’ inner city parks as well as includes a section of habitat that is maintained specifically for this species of skinks.

Doing its part to help a fellow creature
An Isabella Tolhurst/Australian Broadcasting Company image

While the goats will not be clearing out undergrowth throughout the park, they have been tasked to graze away on invasive undergrowth in seven fenced off parts of the park where skinks have dedicated space to live while they are hibernating underground in these areas during the cooler time of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. 

The goat-grazed areas will then be replanted with native grazes that are far more accommodating to skinks.

Chilling with goats at Goat Yoga in Duxbury MA
A Duxbury Goat Yoga image

Depending on how well things go within the grazed areas, the goats are likely to be returning to graze on invasive plants in the future and so help skinks flourish.

In the meanwhile, the goats are providing a restive change of scene for park visitors.

Source: City of Melbourne unleashes herd of goats in Royal Park to revitalise White’s skink habitat

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