Now that it's winter, it's a common sight to see a skink or two basking in the morning sun. I saw this one the other day in a neglected part of my back yard. There's only some kind of growth here so it must've been happy with the sunlight.
Skink is a small ground-dwelling lizard easily recognized by its glossy scales. It has enlarged symmetrical shields on the head, a broad flat tongue, and movable eyelids. The small limbs and elongated body gives it the appearance of snakes. Skink is striped, cross-barred, or spotted and lacks the ability to change colour but the male skinks acquire red or orange hues during the breeding season. These skinks are the most common lizards of the world with over six hundred species. About half the species of the skinks lay eggs, and the rest of them bear living young. These reptiles are generally insectivorous.
Source: www.indianet.zone/45/skink.htm
Had it not been for the limbs,this one could have been easily mistaken for a snake. I get startled sometimes, but one look at the limbs and I breathe a sigh of relief! Now I'll be on the lookout for another kind, the striped one. You might be interested in reading about the Writhing Skink here.
Thank you for stopping by today.
Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.~ Victor Hugo
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7 comments:
I see the orange striped skink sometimes in my school garden. Yes, it is easy to mistake it for a snake.
I was so pleased, Kanak, to read about thre shininess of the Skink. I had been looking at my lizard photos (which I will plan to post soon), and wondering how I knew (or thought I knew) they were lizards and not skinks ...
Hi Kanak!
What IS that bizzare insect in your blog header! Its also sad to see it had a broken wing! On the other hand, do come over to my blog, I've uploaded the pictures of those giant silkmoths I told you about. :)
My favourite is the Indian Moon Moth
Again, I've learned such interesting things that I didn't know before!! So interesting that one species can have it's young two different ways! I didn't think that could happen. But your amazing header distracted me. What IS that??? It has the antenna of a moth, but the body of something like a dragonfly. Perhaps it's a Dragonmoth?? This new blog is a complete joy to come to, I like it even better than your other one!!
Interesting! I too learn a lot when I come here.
I'll take a skink over a snake any day :) Very interesting, Kanak.
Lotusleaf, I'd love to photograph one like that!
Caroline...looking forward to those pictures! You do have a lot of amazing lizard photos.
Cyren, will be there soon!! But although I've looked at bug sites to find out the name of the insect on my header, I haven't come across anything like that till now!
Ginny, thank you again for your kind words. But as I was telling Cyren, I haven't found the picture of a similar looking insect. I'll keep trying. I found it in my parents' backyard and couldn't believe I was actually seeing such a bizarre sight!
Wendy, thank you so much!
Joey, same here!! Thanks!
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