From 66 lizards to 545: the little skink that refused to disappear

In 2010, rangers on Christmas Island scooped up the last 66 Christmas Island blue-tailed skinks they could find before introduced predators wiped them out — after that, the species no longer existed anywhere in the wild on its home island. Sixteen years of careful breeding later, 545 of the little lizards — just 10 to 12 centimetres long with a bright blue tail — were flown and ferried to Horsburgh Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a new island home about 50 times bigger than their two earlier release sites. Led by Parks Australia with Taronga Conservation Society Australia, the local Cocos community and Qantas, it is the third wild colony and a huge milestone for one of the world's rarest reptiles.