Green Bloods!

Prehensile Green Tree Skink

Biliverdin is a pigment that results from the breakdown of haemoglobin, which gives blood its red colour. In humans, they're the reason that some bruises are green in colour. Too much biliverdin is toxic and gives humans the disease called jaundice

Having jaundice is certainly not good for humans but it is common for five small species of lizard found in Papua New Guinea. The only green blooded land vertebrates in the world are found here.

Prasinohaema flavipes (Common Green Tree Skink) Prasinohaema parkeri (Parker's Green Tree Skink) Prasinohaema prehensicauda (Prehensile Green Tree Skink) Prasinohaema semoni (Semon's Green Tree Skink) Prasinohaema virens (Green Tree Skink)

But why would these small inoffensive lizards evolve green blood? In 1968 research into the blood of green-blooded skinks determined that the colouration was due to the presence of a biliverdin-type pigment, like that found in bile. Actually, the skink, found almost exclusively on Papua New Guinea, not only has green blood - it has green bones and tissues as well. It's even got a green tongue,

This excess of biliverdin makes the lizards taste bitter and deter predators, a once tried, never repeated experience for lizard-eating birds. Dr Chris Austin is the only scientist in the world currently studying green-blooded skinks and he has an alternative theory, one that if correct, might lead to a cure for human diseases like jaundice, or even malaria. Mark and Chris set out to scour the mountains and WWII wreck strewn jungles of PNG in an attempt to locate three of the five known green-blooded skink species and obtain blood samples for analysis. But whose theory is closest to the truth?

“It’s surprising because at these concentrations of bile pigments in the blood, [the skinks] should be completely jaundiced, if not dead,” Austin said.
Austin hypothesizes that the lizard evolved to tolerate the biliverdin because it may provide protection against a group of parasites called Plasmodium.
Best known for causing malaria in humans, Plasmodium also causes malaria in reptiles and birds. Austin believes that the presence of toxic biliverdin instead of hemoglobin may make it harder for Plasmodium to infect the skinks."

                                         -Christopher Austin/Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science 

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