Rangers Work to Recover Great Desert Skink

Indigenous rangers, traditional owners and scientists are joining forces to help recover the threatened Australian lizard.

Updated on Oct. 31, 2026 in Reptiles

Red desert sand dune with spinifex grass and a small scrubby acacia on the horizon under warm low sunlight. — Indigenous rangers and scientists are working to recover the threatened Great Desert Skink, with an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 left in the wild. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Should Australia spend more public money protecting threatened native wildlife like the Great Desert Skink?

Indigenous rangers, traditional owners and scientists are working together to help recover the Great Desert Skink, an endemic Australian lizard classified as at threat of extinction. An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 skinks remain in the wild.

Why it matters

The skink was once common across Australia's inland, but its populations are now known from only 20 locations in the desert. Fire and predators are identified as its biggest threats.

Up to 20 ranger groups have conducted national surveys every year since 2023, with counts in 2026 lower than in previous surveys. The skink's range covers 770,000 square kilometres, yet it is known from only 20 locations.

The players

Tjakura Rangers

An Indigenous ranger group based at Mutitjulu at the base of Uluru, working on land management and wildlife monitoring in central Australia.

The details

Rangers manage fire, remove predators and monitor known sites using camera traps, combining their knowledge with traditional owners and visiting ecologists or scientists. The Tjakura Rangers, based at Mutitjulu at the base of Uluru, are among the groups involved in the work.

2023: Ranger groups began annual national population surveys of the skink.
2026: Survey counts decreased compared with previous surveys.
2027: A national survey will assess whether predator removal and fire management have increased the population.

Seasonal Patterns

The 2026 survey counts, which fell below earlier surveys in the annual series begun in 2023, will be tested against the 2027 national survey. That follow-up will show whether fire management and predator removal reverse the trend recorded in the survey data.

Readers interested in Australian wildlife can follow ranger-led monitoring of desert reptiles, which relies on fire management and camera-trap surveys. Those in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia may see these ranger groups working across the region's protected lands.

The takeaway

Recovering a threatened reptile depends on combining traditional knowledge with scientific monitoring over several years. The 2027 survey will show whether current fire and predator measures are working.

What happens next

A national population survey of the Great Desert Skink is scheduled for 2027 to assess whether predator removal and fire management have increased its numbers.