Scientists launch high-stakes experiment with endangered lizard species: 'We need a balance'

Australian biologists have bred and released genetically modified Guthega skinks — a type of small lizard — into an outdoor enclosure in hopes that their offspring will be better adapted to handle the changing climate.

This type of lizard is only found in the country's Bogong High Plains in Victoria and on Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales, and they're currently on the endangered species list. 

The latter has better genetic health, and conservationists are bringing these two populations that have been separated for millions of years together to perform a type of "genetic rescue," as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. 

"What we've been trying to do in captivity is introduce those beneficial genes from NSW into the Victorian population," said Snowline Ecology conservation biologist Zak Atkins in the interview with ABC.

"Those reproductive trials have been underway for multiple years now … and have been hugely successful in their breeding."

The habitat for these skinks is a combination of rocky alpine fields and subalpine woodlands across mountainous areas, but the changing climate is impacting their numbers in these areas, prompting the researchers to take action.

Guthega skinks have long held significance to the local Jaithmathang people, an Aboriginal people who see the creature as a sacred totem.  

"It goes to describing how we are represented in Dreamtime [and] it is sacred not only to our culture, but also sacred to the individual," said Jaithmathang Traditional Ancestral Bloodline Original Owners Corporation chief executive Scott Allen.

The researchers developing the Healesville Sanctuary, as the outdoor enclosure is called, have been collecting genetic samples from the skinks' local habitat with the help of the Jaithmathang people. This will help them further understand where the lizards have previously lived and how they can help them survive in a changing landscape.

While the skinks hold a sacred connection with local people, they're a food source for some, and as omnivorous creatures, they help maintain a balance in the ecosystem.

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Human activities have helped to drive rising temperatures, extreme weather, droughts, and other environmental factors that are forcing some creatures to adapt or go extinct. To combat this, it's important to work toward securing biodiversity and wildlife habitats in order to maintain an ecological balance.

"When we see the type of stuff that's going on in regard to the destruction of habitats, it's very personal for the Jaithmathang," said Allen.

"We need a balance … and in 50 years' time when my little girl is on the top of a mountain, I still want her to ski as well as seeing a Guthega skink."

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