Science Queeries
Australia is the land of lizards and snakes – with over 1,000 species. But they’re in trouble.
Here’s a cold (blooded) hard truth*: reptiles can’t regulate their body temperature, which makes them incredibly vulnerable to climate change.
Dr Jane Melville is Senior Curator, Terrestrial Vertebrates at Museums Victoria and Acting Director of the Museums Victoria Research Institute. She’s a herpetologist who studies how past climate change shaped reptile communities – and what that tells us about the future.
She’ll give us a sense of the scale of the problem as we slither into the impacts of climate change on species distribution, the rediscovery of a long-lost lizard, and the urgent need for conservation strategies. Because when we understand how reptiles responded to past climate change, we can better predict and protect them in the future.
*We technically don’t use the term “cold-blooded” anymore as it’s scientifically misleading/inaccurate, but the pun was too good!
Originally aired 25th August, 2026.
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