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Lizard gender video

Description: Monash University Logo

Description: Melbourne Zoo

Title: Karen Sutherland Reporting

Karen Sutherland: If you've ever had a sleepless night wondering how to determine the sex of lizards, worry no more.

Researchers at the Monash Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences are working with vets at the Melbourne Zoo, using ultra sound imaging to determine the gender of juvenile and adult lizards.

Title: Gina Westhorpe

Gina Westhorpe: "My previous degree was science with honours in zoology so I always had an interest in combining both the radiography and the zoology side of things."

Karen Sutherland: The project is part of Gina's fourth year radiography research project and while other techniques were found to be extremely invasive, ultrasound, as you can see, is a lizard friendly method.

Title: Gina Westhorpe

Gina Westhorpe: "But importantly the juveniles are sexually monomorphic across all lizard species, and so you can't tell the sex, and we're hoping that ultra sound is something that can be used in juveniles to determine sex."

Description: Researchers examining lizards using ultra sound equipment.

Karen Sutherland: Gina has been flat out like a, well, lizard drinking, examining a range of species from the Sail Tailed Water Dragon to the Green Iguana.

Description: Researcher handling a lizard.

Video ends.