Survival of a skink

Visiting American angler John Berzins was fishing with guide Al Simson in the Doughboy River on the western side of northern Cape York [Australia] this week when he hooked this fish.

While they were taking photographs the fish started regurgitating its last meal - the lizard - which clearly should have been dead and looked dead with its lifeless eyes.

But as Simson continued taking photographs a miracle happened." As I was looking through the lens of the camera I noticed that the once-glazed over eyes of the skink were now black," he said .

The lizard began to struggle and with a little help from the fisherman it crawled from its captor's jaws. There were some teeth marks down its back and the tail was partially digested, but when they put it back on the river bank it happily scurried off...

"The skink had probably slowed down its heart rate in order to stay alive for that length of time underwater without air."

(Photos and more of the story HERE. Credit to Neatorama.)