{"id":375328,"date":"2025-12-29T04:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T04:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/375328\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T04:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T04:52:10","slug":"aussie-tourist-boat-makes-unreal-discovery-1000m-out-to-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/375328\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie tourist boat makes ‘unreal’ discovery 1,000m out to sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blue-tongued lizards <\/a>are one of Australia\u2019s most common backyard reptiles. However, it\u2019s highly unusual to spot one swimming in the middle of the ocean.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s exactly what was witnessed last week, as a boat full of international tourists ventured out into Victoria\u2019s famous Gippsland Lakes in search of wildlife.<\/p>\n

Out at sea, Lonsdale Eco Cruises\u2019 <\/a>Mel Fredericks frequently sees wild animal behaviour that most of us have only seen in nature documentaries, like seals attacking octopuses<\/a>, dolphins hunting fish, or pelicans at play.<\/p>\n

But this is the first time she\u2019s ever seen a blue tongue lizard <\/a>in the water, and how it got there remains a mystery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was right out in the middle of the lakes, probably 1,000 metres from the shoreline,\u201d she told Yahoo News.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, the struggling animal appeared to know it needed help.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we saw it, it was swimming away. But then we got really close, and it started swimming towards us,\u201d Mel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was unreal, I got my net out, and it swam quite into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you come across something surprising in the ocean? Contact newsroomau@yahoonews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The lizard changed direction and swam towards the tourist boat. Source: Lonsdale Eco Tours<\/p>\n

What happened to the lizard?<\/p>\n

Although blue-tongues are sometimes found swimming in backyard pools<\/a>, they generally struggle to traverse long distances.<\/p>\n

They are sometimes preyed upon by predatory birds, but the lizard Mel found didn\u2019t have any marks on its body and seemed in good condition.<\/p>\n

\"Left:<\/p>\n

The lizard was plucked from the water and taken on a 20-minute ride back to shore. Source: Lonsdale Eco Tours<\/p>\n

The closest land was Rigby Island, a popular birdwatching and fishing spot.<\/p>\n

But determining where exactly the lizard came from was impossible, so Mel and her husband searched out habitat that would suit his needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took it home and released it near our house, where there\u2019s a wonderful little creek with bugs and things.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen blue-tongues there before, so he\u2019s in a very happy home now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I hope he didn\u2019t have a wife and kids somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love Australia’s weird and wonderful environment? \ud83d\udc0a\ud83e\udd98\ud83d\ude33 Get our new newsletter<\/a> showcasing the week\u2019s best stories.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blue-tongued lizards are one of Australia\u2019s most common backyard reptiles. However, it\u2019s highly unusual to spot one swimming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[183621,183622,183620,183619,183623,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-375328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-blue-tongued-lizard","9":"tag-lonsdale-eco","10":"tag-lonsdale-eco-cruises","11":"tag-mel-fredericks","12":"tag-rigby-island","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}