One of the last populations in Australia of this near-extinct reptile is being moved from Canberra to a property 75km south in a do-or-die operation

On the frontline of saving a rare Australian reptile species near Canberra, the essential requirements are a large number of clay tiles, some quick reflexes and the hope that you haven’t accidentally grasped at one of the world’s most venomous snakes.

An unremarkable looking plot of land opposite Canberra’s Exhibition Park is where conservationists are attempting the rescue of the reptile, the vulnerable striped legless lizard.

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In many ways, the razing of this land is emblematic of how Australia has managed to get itself the worst species extinction record in the world, almost before the country really understood how it got into this position.

The grassland site, next to the Federal Highway that links Canberra to Sydney, is being flattened to create a caravan park and tourist accommodation for up to 480 people. The developer, FreeSpirit, has to find an area of compensatory land elsewhere to “offset” the loss of the grassland.

Unfortunately the denizens of the grassland are unaware their home is set to be torn asunder and only the intervention of a conservation group, Bush Heritage Australia, is saving 200 striped legless lizards, one of the last populations of the species left in the country.

The other grassland species, including olive and bluetongue lizards, will be left to the bulldozers.

South-east Australia has lost 99% of its grasslands since Europeans arrived and decided that houses, cattle and sheep were suited for these treeless, largely unloved areas.

“Protecting grasslands is a hard thing to sell to people – they aren’t particularly valued,” says Peter Saunders, a Bush Heritage landscape manager who spends much of his time in such environments under a wide-brimmed hat.

“People see them as a place to walk their dog or maybe graze some sheep. But they are incredibly valuable for a large number of plants and a surprising number of reptiles and insects. Even fungus. Did you know Australia has two-thirds of the world’s fungus species?”

The protection of fungus is unlikely to inspire the hordes to march on to nearby parliament house and, at first glance, those with an aversion to snakes would also doom the striped legless lizard.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brett Howland, academic and Bush Heritage contractor, left, and Peter Saunders, a Bush Heritage landscape manager. Photograph: Annette Ruzicka/Bush Heritage Australia

Legless lizards are related to skinks and geckos but are often mistaken for snakes because of their long bodies and similar-looking heads. There are a few key differences: legless lizards have visible ears, no forked tongue and cannot make you die in unbearable agony.

The species has other peculiarities. Most of its body is made up of tail – unlike snakes that have very short tails – which can detach from its body in sections if it needs to flee quickly. The tail continues to wriggle, distracting the predator. And, oddly, the legless lizard squeaks when handled, much like a startled mouse.

To capture these legless lizards – the name comes from legs that disappeared through evolution leaving just a scaly protrusion – Bush Heritage has purchased roof tiles in bulk.

About 800 have been strewn across the area for the proposed caravan park. The idea is simple but effective. Reptiles like to press themselves against heated surfaces to get warm. As the sun heats the tiles, legless lizards will wriggle underneath them.

The tiles are then flipped over and the catcher quickly presses his or her palm over the legless lizard. The complication is that brown snakes, one of the world’s most venomous, can also be under the tiles and, in a split second, can look a little like a legless lizard.

The other grassland species, including olive and bluetongue lizards, will be left to the bulldozers.

“It looks a bit like a snake if you haven’t seen one before,” said Brett Howland, an academic and Bush Heritage contractor. “I pick up the tiles sometimes and see snakes and that throws me backwards. There’s probably something in our evolution that means we instinctively fear snakes.

“But when you see a snake next to a legless lizard you’ll see they look quite different. Their behaviour is different, too. A legless lizard is very placid but if that was a brown snake” – Howard points to a recently flipped tile – “it would have looked towards me and been quite aggressive. Not all snakes are like that, of course.”

No legs means the lizard can move quickly through grasslands and is an instinctive burrower. When you hold one, it appears as if it is rearing its head to strike but it is, in fact, looking for somewhere to hide. They twist and wrap around your fingers like wire and, as I found out to my cost, can defecate silently and without warning.

Once grasslands are turned into grazing or cropping land, the species’ cover is removed and predators such as magpies can pick them off. They cannot cross roads or paths. Almost casually, animals such as the legless lizard are being wiped out as land is seemingly improved by humans.

Once the legless lizards are caught – 31 so far – they are taken to the Australian National University to be weighed, measured and marked so that their progress can be checked. The longest can measure 30cm, and weight is about the 9g mark.

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“If you find a legless lizard, it’s a sign that the environment hasn’t been disturbed too much,” says Howland. “If you remove them, the ecosystem won’t collapse but it’s another cog in the wheel. We have a pretty terrible extinction record.”

The striped legless lizards are being moved to Scottsdale, a former farming property 75km south of Canberra. Bush Heritage bought the 1,328ha site in 2006 and has been busy revegetating its box woodlands and grasslands, and trying to drive out feral pigs, deer and rabbits.

This is the first species to be moved to the Scottsdale reserve to save it. A fenced off area will be used to study the results. If the legless lizards survive a few years and successfully breed, the relocation will be hailed a triumph.

This is the end point for the striped legless lizard. For other species, the end will come within the teeth of heavy machinery or feral introduced animals. We pick and choose the ones that get to escape, once we realise the species is at the brink of vanishing and if the required money can be scraped together through goodwill.

As US author Aldo Leopold put it: “We stand guard over works of art, but species representing the work of aeons are stolen from under our noses.”

Saunders says it comes down to personal values.

“I don’t want to contribute to the demise of a species and we can do a bit to prevent them becoming extinct,” he says. “If this species wasn’t moved in this way, it would become extinct. In a way it represents so many other species out there.”