Wild water dragons in SA

[geckodan]

There is a reference in the SA Museum lizards book of populations of EWD's of both subspecies occurring in Adelaide. Can anyone cofirm if these still exist????
Danny

 

[Jonno from ERD]

Yep. Seen them on the Torrens.

 

[flavirufus]

Yep, I think they're still there, as Jonno said. I don't think there's populations of both sub-species, but instead the single population is a hybrid of both sub-species. It formed from escapees for a wildlife park. Also, the population is near Adelaide, but in a rural area.

 

[imalizard]

Cool, I would love to see one down the river.

 

[geckodan]

Thanks

 

[richardsc]

wild populations also found in melb to,gippys,easterns and obvious crosses to,they are very cold hardy water dragons and thrive in this climate

 

[missllama]

yep there still around here

 

[andyh]

yep all through the hills you`ll find em, EWD`s and GWD`s

 

[imalizard]

Is there any chance you can find them in Murray Bridge?

 

[andyh]

not that Ive heard but you never know!!!

 

[OzGecko]

Last summer went up and saw a few. Mostly younger animals, but there was one large male that we caught a glimpse of before he ran for cover.
As for what subspecies, I would also lean more to them being a "mix". The ones I saw were quite dark in colour. A friend has a good pic taken years ago of one basking on a rock with and Eastern Water skink in the foreground.

 

[herpie boy]

there is an introduced population of ewd along the dirty yarra river in kew, melbourne.poor buggers

 

[bubbaloush]

i have also seen them in bonython park next to the river near the kiosk

 

[flavirufus]

Interesting! I did hear that there was potentially a population near the Zoo, but that was over 15 years ago.

 

[bubbaloush]

i saw three of them about 3 months ago

 

[Sdaji]

There is a relatively new (last four or five years) population in Bundoora, Melbourne. They are all over the place. You see them all around the Melbourne zoo, including in many of the cages for other animals - gorillas, hippos, even the moats in front of the big cat enclosures, and generally running around all over the place. Many populations in several cities have popped up after animals have escaped (including babies which hatch from eggs in outdoor enclosures), and also after deliberate releases (often when someone buys a little one, catches a big one as a replacement and lets the one they purchased go). What puzzles me is that they haven't been further west under their own steam. I can't understand what has confined them to the east for the last hundred thousand years or so.