An Australian lizard of the skink family. Also known regionally as the Stumpy Tail Lizard, Pinecone Lizard, Sleepy Lizard, Two Headed Lizard, Bobtail Goanna, and Boggi (or Bog-eye).

Shinglebacks are a species of blue-tongue skink. Like others of the genus, adult shinglebacks are large (30-40 cm), robust and thick-bodied, with short limbs, broad triangular head, wide mouth, and startling blue-black tongue. Their scales are typically rough and spiky, and may range in colour from light red-brown to black, with grey or tan spots, mottling, or banding, as suits a given population's habitat.

The feature that defines the shingleback is its tail. Short, broad, and triangular, it closely mimics the lizard's head, down to the pair of recessed scales resembling the eyes at the other end. Even at close quarters, it takes some attention to see which end of a shingleback is which. Like most mimicry, this is a form of defence - if attacked by a predator, the shingleback stands a fifty-fifty chance of being set upon at the expendable end. So-called self mimicry is commonplace in the animal kingdom, encompassing such tactics as eye-spots on a butterfly's wings: the shingleback's rather extreme brand of literal self-mimicry is rare and remarkable, found in just a handful of species worldwide.

Shinglebacks can be found in all the drier parts of Australia's temperate south - west of the Great Dividing Range and along the coasts of South and Western Australia to nearly as far north as the Pilbara. A drive in the backblocks of these regions on a cool day will commonly turn up a shingleback sunning itself on the road (or, more likely, a flat ex-shingleback). Heavy and slow-moving, shinglebacks like to skulk in forest litter, logs, and rock niches, feeding on berries, succulents, flowers, and the odd snail or insect. Unusually for reptiles, they form lifelong monogamous mating pairs, the product of which is between one and four live young every spring.

Like their blue-tongue lizard cousins, shinglebacks are often found as pets - their inability to outrun the average Australian country kid has seen many a "stumpy" or "bluey" brought home to Mum, and some specialist pet shops now sell them. Fortunately for the lizards, they are insanely easy to care for. They thrive on a varied diet of vegetable matter and meat scraps, and are helpfully choosy about what's best for them, making even overfeeding difficult. In their native regions, they can run free-range, but a dry, heated enclosure is necessary for more humid areas. As long as they are kept warm, dry, watered and fed, they can live happily for up to twenty years. Of course, should you be keen on keeping a shingleback, please employ common sense and responsibility: there are many things you can do to make your pet's life as healthy and comfortable as possible, and many resources available on the care of reptiles in general and shinglebacks in particular. Consult them and your stumpy will thank you.