I had two head Down Under to get weird pets
TV vet’s shock over unique lizard
Dr Chris Allison, from Stirling, is one of the stars of BBC Scotland series Scottish Vets Down Under.
He followed his passion for exotic animals by becoming a vet in Australia–but admitted he’d never seen anything like the two-headed lizard.
The moment Chris, 35, comes face- to-face with the creature is captured in tomorrow night’s episode.
Speaking from Oz, Chris said: “A two-headed lizard is not something you see every day. I came to Australia to work with exotic animals but this is bananas.”
The shingleback – also known as a stump-tailed skink – was found in the wild by a member of the public.
Thought to be about three years old, the lizard was rescued by an animal sanctuary near Bendigo, in the south- east.
Chris said: “I think I’ve treated almost every kind of reptile in Australia but this is the only twoheaded shingleback on the planet, as far as I know. It’s really made my year.
“It was wrapped up when I first saw it and I was amazed when I saw the two heads sticking out. It only has one body so, really, they’re conjoined twins.
“I examined them and found that both heads have independent thought. They have separate brains and eat separately but they only have one stomach. I can’t explain how they lasted so long in the wild because in Australia it’s kill or be killed as far as wildlife is concerned but they are now safe in captivity and seem to be thriving.
“They walk around OK and both heads think and move and eat and do everything normally so I can only assume they are happy.
“It could be that two heads really are better than one.”
Chris revealed how it was his love of snakes that
per s u aded him to start a new life in Australia. It’s now almost exactly a year since the former rugby player took over the veterinary practice, where he specialises in small animals including wombats, snakes and shinglebacks.
He said: “I got my first pet snake when I was 12 years old and I’ve kept them ever since. By my late 20s, I had 27 of them, including an 8ft- long carpet python called George.
“People would come to me when their kids had grown tired of their pet snake so I picked up waifs and strays.
“A lot of people have a phobia of them but I think they’re very misunderstood. You don’t see many snakes in Scotland but they thrive out here. “Most of the animals I seese are just the same as in Scotland – dogs, cats, rabbits and other household pets – but about 10 per cent are wildlife and exotic pets. That’s what excites me.” Chris described Bendigo as a city oof a similar size to Stirling but with 250 days of sunshine a year.
He keeps in touch with his fami ly, who give him their take on each episode of Scottish Vets Down Under.
He said: “I’ve had a lot of feedback from friends and family, saying they’re enjoying the series, but it’s not out in Australia yet so nobody here has any idea about it.
“One of the v ideos got 180,000 views on Facebook. Even accounting for the fact that 80,000 of them are probably my mum, that’s still pretty good.”