July Meeting - Hidden Beneath the Cracks: Herpetofauna of the Mitchell Grass Downs Bioregion

Presented by Chris Jolly.

Beneath the vast (sometimes grassy) plains and cracking clays of the Territory’s Mitchell Grass Downs lies a herpetological world few ever see - home to secretive snakes, cryptic skinks, and some of Australia’s most unique and specialised reptiles and frogs.
Join Chris Jolly as he explores the hidden biodiversity of this remote and hostile region. Drawing on years of (often thankless) fieldwork, Chris will showcase the fascinating - and frequently overlooked - herpetofauna of the Mitchell Grass Downs: from massive crack-dwelling goannas and mythical dragons to frogs that vanish underground for years. In a land defined by drought punctuated by flooding rains, what species eke out an existence and how do they do it? And what does it take to find animals that barely show themselves, even to experienced ecologists?

Chris is a conservation biologist and herpetologist from Macquarie University, and a Research Associate of Charles Darwin University and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. A regular guest on ABC Darwin, where he chats all things NT reptiles, Chris has described species endemic to the Northern Territory and has dedicated himself to the conservation of some of its most threatened reptiles. He is a co-author of the award-winning Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Northern Territory, and his research blends behavioural and evolutionary ecology to tackle complex conservation problems. He currently serves as Secretary of the Australian Society of Herpetology and is a member of the IUCN Snake and Skink Specialist groups - testament to his (borderline pathological) obsession with Australia’s reptiles.

This is one of the Club's monthly community engagement events. All welcome. Come along to uncover what lies beneath the cracks.

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