This weeks Photo of the Week was taken Saturday
(October 17, 2015)
Although Dean and I are currently in the Red Centre where Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) dominate the landscape, I’ve not chosen a photo of either to share today. Instead, this week’s Photo of the Week is of a Thorny Devil. (You can read more about these native Australian lizards here.)
This little guy was the first fauna we’d seen after being at Yulara for almost three days. Sure we’d seen a couple of birds flitting around the (resort) pool – one was chasing little dragon flies for a tasty morsel and being rather successful – but we were really surprised at the lack of wildlife.
On Saturday morning, after watching the sunrise over Uluru, Dean and I took a look at the sunset viewing area – scouting a good vantage point for later on. As we were leaving, I spotted this little Thorny Devil sauntering across the sand and apparently we frightened him – hence his colouring.
Looking at him it was easy to see how his colours are perfectly patterned to blend into the environment – red to match the sand, various shades of grey to match the parched plants, and thin black highlights to perfectly mimic the stripped shadows cast.
These little devils are masters of disguise.
I thought it was a tree branch!!
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Hi Adrienne,
Most of his predators think exactly the same thing 🙂
Clare
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Good for him or her😮
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He was gorgeous! We have our share of cool lizards out here in AZ… But nothing like him!
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Hi Nancy,
Yes, the Thorny Devil is rather unique and gorgeous.
Clare
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what a wonderful wee creature
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He was gorgeous Bruce
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Good heavens! Looks like a thorny bush!
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That they do 😄
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