As Australia’s Right-“thinking” “pundits”/commentators/zealots “know”, if this “scaly, self-indulgent millennial” continues to bolt down avocados, it will never achieve home ownership!
They may, however, be pleased to know that no member of this species has ever sipped a latte…although some “pundits” surely will be disappointed to learn that its name does not salute a monarch/y.
Pictured above is a King’s skink, Egernia kingii.
This uncommonly large skink is endemic to southwestern Western Australia, where it favours coastal and near-coastal locations, including Rottnest Island.
My beloved and I heard the pictured individual, as we prepared to picnic beside our absolutely favourite coastal inlet.
I turned around, and there s/he was – poised between fear and opportunism.
As it happened, we two boomers – avocado eaters since long before the first “millennial” ever indulged in a “smashed” breakfast – had purchased a dud avocado.
Beneath its apparently healthy skin there lurked mostly-brown fruit.
”Unfit for fussy human consumption” very soon proved “fit for a King’s skink’s banquet”.
King’s skinks are named after William Parker King, who is remembered for his 19th century coastal explorations in Australia and Patagonia.
They have a very particular, advantageous approach to defensive tail-shedding, as you can discover here.
(Photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken at Waychinicup, 1.37 pm, 15 March 2021)
Coming soon to Pelican Yoga: much more on Waychinicup and other glorious locations on WA’s south coast.