I was on a 3 day tour to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the Northern Territory when the tour bus came to a screeching halt. Thinking something was seriously wrong we all held our breath for a moment. The tour guide suddenly jumped out of the bus, abandoned us and started running down the road. Great, thanks for leaving us in the desert!
He had in fact spotted this thorny devil, though he must have had incredible vision to be able to see this lizard camouflaged on the orange, dusty road. It was a good job he did, otherwise this little lizard may have been flattened to a pancake. This thorny devil suddenly became more photographed than Kate Moss as we all started snapping away with our lenses. Eventually we grew tired and put him down by a bush away from the road.
The thorny devil or Moloch is an Australian lizard and is covered with thorny spines, hence its name. It can camouflage itself by turning different colours and the the thorns deter predators that might want to swallow it.
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So cool! I want to do some more research now and see the different colors it can change to. Amazing that your guide was able to spot him on the road. Cheers!
Pete, such cool little creatures, I believe they turn different shades of browns and tans. Checked out your website and added you on Twitter/Facebook. cheers!
Hey Victoria…were you on the same trip I was? Tour guide named Mollie, September 2010?
How he managed to spot this beautiful little creature while driving down the highway is still amazing to me…
Hi, no don’t think so, I did the tour in March 2009. So you saw one too? How cool!
The guide on my trip to Uluru in 2010 did the exact same thing…we were driving down the highway; he slammed on the brakes, pulled over, jumped out and ran down the highway, leaving us to wonder, like you, if he was just going to abandon us in the desert! He came back with a Thorny Devil in his hands. We took photos of it and then he set it free in the scrub about fifty feet from the highway. It was one of the highlights of my trip, for sure. Cheers!
Hey! The first thorny devil I saw was almost a dead one! I’d been hanging out to see one and we were leaving Uluru after a couple of days. My partner slammed on the brakes of the car without warning, then raced out & picked one up off the road! YESSSS!
I later asked what he’d have told me if he’d run it over – he said he wouldn’t have said anything, and just kept going …