The Los Angeles Zoo is the new home of 23 Australian lizards and amphibians that are rarely seen in the United States, it was announced today.
Zoo curators spent more than two years planning the transfer of the animals -- which include a pair of large monitor lizards known as perenties -- from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney.
"Australia is very selective as to who they send their animals to outside of their country, so we are very fortunate to have such a good relationship with the Taronga Zoo," said Ian Recchio, the Los Angeles Zoo's reptiles and amphibian curator.
The perentie, with colorful markings and a long, snake-like body, is typically found in arid parts of Western Queensland and the rockyn terrain of coastal Western Australia. The species' strong legs help the lizards dig into the soil to avoid desert heat.
Zoo curators used baseball diamond clay to recreate the red terrain of the Australian desert, which is the normal habitat of the fourth-largest living lizard on earth, after the Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor and crocodile monitor.
The perenties are now on daily display in the zoo's Australia section, in the Komodo dragon roundhouse.
The other Australian reptiles include a half-dozen Boyd's forest dragons and several Southern orange-eyed tree frogs, golden-tailed geckos and knob- tailed geckos. They are in quarantine and will not be on display until mid-May.
